Last night Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez had an Instagram Live where she discussed the events of January 6th from her point of view. She shared a great deal of personal information and insights to what was going on in the Capitol. She shared how she feared she was going to die and kind of made an acceptance that she may die. She conveyed her fear she had in a instance with a Capitol Police Officer. How she didn't trust him, was afraid of him, but also acknowledged she could have been projecting because of the intensity and fear of the situation.
Her fears were justified. If you have watched videos from that day, you can hear the domestic terrorists shouting "Hang Mike Pence!" You can hear attackers searching for Nancy Pelosi, calling out her name, talking about killing her. You can hear these criminals searching for AOC. Rep. Ayanna Pressley's another member of the "Squad" and her staff discovered while hiding from the attackers that sometime before the attack or before they got to their office, that all the panic buttons had been torn out. The threats of death to everyone in the Capitol was real.
But all this didn't stop idiots on the right from attacking her. I haven't heard any Republican politicians attack her about this, yet...(UPDATE: a day after posting this, Republican politicians have started attacking her for her comments)... but their supporters were off and running immediately last night. Far too many assholes on Twitter calling her trauma fake and just attention seeking...The same ones that needed time and wanted us all to give Trump time to deal with their trauma of losing the election!
What's even more sad about our state of affairs these day, Democrats knew assholes on the right were going to do this. So much so, that Rep. Katie Porter was on Lawrence O'Donnell's show immediately afterwards, not only confirming/backing up AOC's account, but sharing details from her perspective and conveying how she could see and feel her colleague's fear.
The Right, from day one has always been on the offensive when it comes to AOC. Politicians, Right-wing/Conservative media, plain old Right leaning assholes and racists are always attacking her, trying to shout her down. They scream their favorite fear-inducing word, SOCIALISM while holding up a picture of her. They mocked her form not only not being a DC insider, but for being a bartender, because in their eyes having real life, real world experiences to go along with your education is a bad thing for politics...Which is hilarious now that one of the two top, QANON following, fresh faced Republicans in Congress is Lauren Boebert, who bartended, ran a restaurant and oh, didn't graduate from high school. But she got her GED while campaigning for Congress. (along with $70,000 from Ted Cruz. Wonder what she did for that)...So go ahead and mock AOC for having bartended! Assholes!
But why has the right gone after AOC so hard? Because they saw it well before most Democrats. They see she is the future of the party. They saw people gravitated to her because she is one of the people. She plays video games and chats with people on Twitch. She has Instagram streams like last night, openly communicating with people. She doesn't act like politician, she acts like person. Jesus Christ, why the hell do you think Ted Cruz is trying to play the Everyman? Dickhead's net worth is $3 million and his wife is a managing director for Goldman Sachs, and now he's trying to act like he's just one of us and cares about blue collar workers. Many Democrats still don't realize this. Many of them don't like her.
Listen, I'm a liberal guy. My father is a lifelong Democrat, Union guy and one of the smartest people I know. We agree on most things and if we don't, I hear him out completely because I know how smart he is and the lifetime of wisdom and experiences he has. He has said it to me, that he "Can't stand her" when talking about AOC. Further discussion on the topic, he shows his age and tinge of misogynism/ageism saying "She doesn't know how things work," and "she's too mouthy." So here, we disagree. Her being "mouthy" is part of her appeal to many, myself included. As for not knowing how things work, she does know, and that's why she is bucking the system. She knows how things in DC have worked, aren't working for the vast majority of Americans.
My father and too many Democrats, feel things will be okay if we just keep the establishment politicians in office, doing the same old dance they have done for ages. What too many don't realize is the rise of Trumpism and the QANON Republicans has already changed the dance. There battle cry of MAGA: Make America Great Again sums it up. AGAIN is the key word. They want to go backwards. They want segregation. They want June Cleaver in the kitchen, in her dress, wearing her pearls, waiting on Ward Cleaver, hand and foot. They want some of the worst parts of America be normal AGAIN.
AOC and "The Progressive Caucus " are the polar opposite. Progressive. They want us to move forward. Not just on racial issues. On fucking everything. The establishment Democrats move at a snails pace, many are just flat stuck in the mud.
On Inauguration Day AOC bought supplies for 1400 striking workers of the Hunts Point Produce Market, in her district and then joined them in their strike. The market pulls in $2 billion in yearly revenue. The workers who have been showing up every day throughout COVID to help keep shelves stocked for over half of New York, were asking for a $1 per hour raise. The best offer they got was 32 cents. After AOC walked the line and got some national media coverage on the situation, the market came back to the table offering a $1.85 over the next three years and adding 40 cents per hour to employee healthcare.
That is leadership. That's moving the needle. That's not just connecting to the people, but working for the people. That's what the country needs. That's the example the Democrats should embrace and follow. That's the future. No more going back to AGAIN!
