It’s no secret Democrats are divided on socialist Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Green New Deal, but that fissure is transforming into a massive fault line this week that’s pitting the party’s radical faction against centrists like freshman Staten Island Rep. Max Rose.

Rose was among 26 moderate Democrats who recently voted in favor of a GOP amendment to gun control legislation that would require authorities to notify Immigration and Customs Enforcement of illegal immigrants attempting to buy guns.

The decision, and others like it, are infuriating AOC and Justice Democrats pulling the party to the left, sparking calls to mount primary challenges for Rose and other moderate Democrats who oppose their socialist policies to vote for what’s best for constituents. Ocasio-Cortez warned her colleagues they’re “putting themselves on a list” by opposing party radicals.

Rose discussed the possibility of a primary challenge Wednesday on the New York news program MetroFocus, and it’s clear he’s not scared.

MetroFocus host Rafael Pi Roman laid out the situation and Rose seemed genuinely surprised by AOC’s threat.

“You were among the 20 or so Democrats who joined House Republicans to vote for an amendment that would allow ICE to be notified if an undocumented immigrant tried to buy a firearm. Progressives didn’t like it and Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez vowed to keep a list of centrist Democrats who sway from the fold,” he said.

“She’s going to keep a list?” Rose replied.

“Ya, that’s what she said,” Pi Roman said. “How do you respond?”

“So look, this is very simple because I’m not one to deal in subtleties … and I think it’s best not to be passive aggressive,” Rose said. “If she wants to primary me, the Justice Democrats what to primary me, I’ll lay out the red carpet.”

He also wasn’t shy with his thoughts on Ocasio-Cortez’s Green New Deal.

Addressing climate change is one thing, he said, transforming America into a socialist country is another.

“We need urgent and bold action. I think that comes in the form of a substantive cap and trade program. We also have to come to terms with the fact that this is a global problem, requires a global solution. We’ve got to get back into the Paris Agreements,” he said. “Beyond that though, we need substantive and incredible technological advancement. We need Apollo projects of our generation for battery technology and other forms of carbon free energy production, for smart grid systems.

“All of these things have to happen and they have to happen quickly. This is not the time for milquetoast incrementalism. It just isn’t,” he said. “But with that being said though, nothing about what I just said would provide a justification for a massive socialist economic policy platform. It’s just not needed.”

Suggesting otherwise is a lie, Rose said.

“So we can have a separate discussion or a separate debate about whether this is the time and whether America needs those types of economic policy prescriptions – job guarantees, housing guarantees, things that on its face sound good but I just do not believe are possible,” he said. “They’re not economically feasible. There’s no need to lie to voters right now.”

Rose’s comments followed comments from colleague Stephanie Murphy the day prior in which the Florida Democrat pushed back against the slide toward socialism.

Murphy, the first Vietnamese American woman in Congress, told a crowd of about 150 folks gathered at the BakerHostetler conference in Washington Tuesday that she’s a “proud capitalist” who understands the horrors of socialism from experience, The Washington Examiner reports.

“I am offended by this whole conversation about socialism,” Murphy said. “The idea that in the greatest democracy, the greatest capitalist system in the world, we’re having casual conversation about socialism, offends me.”

Murphy explained that she immigrated legally to the U.S. with her family as a baby, but recalled sending medicine, bandages, fabric and other supplies to relatives back in Vietnam to help them survive the country’s socialist policies.

Capitalism, she said, “is the system that built us the greatest nation and the greatest economy in the world. Sure, we have to fix the inequities that exist in our system. We have to make sure everybody, no matter what zip code they’re born in, has a fair shot.

“But it is not the moment to undo the whole system and embrace something that Americans have spent blood and treasure fighting to save other countries from,” Murphy said.