Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) has suggested that she might be willing to forgive Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) for allegedly “trying to get me killed.” All he has to do is falsely implicate himself in the violent riot at the Capitol, confess to high crimes and misdemeanors, go through a struggle session, and embrace socialism.
That’s only mostly hyperbole.
On Sunday, CNN’s Jake Tapper tweeted a thread of AOC’s comments on Cruz, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), and Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.). AOC retweeted him, suggesting she still supports the claims Tapper tweeted.
“In these past three weeks, I felt like it was important to give a window of opportunity, right? Maybe in some world, Senators Josh Hawley, or Senator Ted Cruz, or Representative Mo Brooks, would say: ‘You know what? I was mistaken. I did not fully realize what the impact of my actions was going to be. And now in retrospect, I see that it incited something that I never wanted to incite. And for that, I am sorry,'” AOC suggested.
“But no. They’ve had almost a month. And they haven’t said that,” AOC added. “They have doubled down. And they said: ‘I did the right thing. And if I could go back, I would do it all over again.'”
“So that tells me that these people remain a present danger,” AOC argued. “Because what that tells me is that when given another window of political opportunity for themselves, even if they know that it means that it will endanger their colleagues, they will do it again.”
This segment of AOC’s Instagram Live essentially got buried by the congresswoman’s decision to weaponize sexual assault claims to silence her political opponents. While sexual assault is heinous and it is quite possible AOC is a true victim, she decided to go public with her story, not in order to seek justice for the assault, but in order to compare her Republican opponents with the sexual assaulters who use emotional manipulation to silence their victims.
In the wake of the riot, AOC accused Cruz of “trying to get me killed.” The congresswoman suggested that since Cruz supported a measure to pause the counting of Electoral College votes in order to launch a commission to answer concerns about election integrity, he had effectively supported the violent assault on the Capitol, in which rioters broke in and physically attacked police in order to stop Congress from counting Electoral College votes.
Yet while the rioters stormed the Capitol, Cruz loudly condemned the assault. “Those storming the Capitol need to stop NOW,” he tweeted. “The Constitution protects peaceful protest, but violence—from Left or Right— is ALWAYS wrong. And those engaged in violence are hurting the cause they say they support.”
When Congressmen rightly called on AOC to apologize for her false accusation, she compared them to sexual assaulters.
AOC’s remarks that Cruz remains “a present danger” restate the false charge that he tried to get her killed, and suggest Cruz will try to do it again.
According to AOC’s twisted logic, because Cruz called for an investigation into election integrity in the 2020 election, he is guilty of inciting the rioters. Since Cruz still has concerns about election integrity and would still call for an investigation, he really supports the Capitol riot, no matter how loudly he condemned it. (This seems eerily similar to claims of “systemic racism” despite legal civil rights regardless of color.)
Therefore, Cruz — who, again, loudly condemned the riots as they occurred and called for peace and the prosecution of the rioters — represents a clear and present danger because he still voices concerns about the 2020 election.
AOC has suggested that she gave Cruz “a window of opportunity,” allowing him to apologize for inciting the violence, thus accepting her absurd claim that he is responsible for it and therefore tried to get her killed. Since Cruz will not just accept her version of events, take responsibility for something he did not do, essentially plead guilty to attempted murder, and suddenly change his mind on election integrity, he represents a “present danger” to her life.
No, AOC didn’t demand that Ted Cruz support socialism and go to a “struggle session” to rid himself of white supremacist capitalist ideas, but her ridiculous demand amounts to something similar.
And no, none of this proves that Cruz is a “present danger” to her life. But that lie may form the basis for a new domestic “War on Terror” to silence conservatives…
Tyler O’Neil is the author of Making Hate Pay: The Corruption of the Southern Poverty Law Center. Follow him on Twitter at @Tyler2ONeil.
