What Real Socialists Look Like: Ocasio-Cortez Fans Call for Rep. Steve Scalise To Be 'Sniped,' Attacked
Socialism: A philosophy of peace. Unless you disagree, then we’ll talk about shooting you.
A Twitter debate between House Minority Whip Steve Scalise and Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was shut down by Scalise on Saturday after Ocasio-Cortez’s supporters began unsubtly referencing the 2017 shooting that almost cost the Louisiana Republican his life.
Scalise had begun the exchange by referencing Ocasio-Cortez’s recent appearance on “60 Minutes” in which the self-described socialist advocated a 70 percent tax to pay for her so-called “Green New Deal.”
“Republicans: Let Americans keep more of their own hard-earned money,” Scalise tweeted, along with a clip from the video. “Democrats: Take away 70% of your income and give it to leftist fantasy programs.”
Republicans: Let Americans keep more of their own hard-earned money
Democrats: Take away 70% of your income and give it to leftist fantasy programs https://t.co/NxJPSCqvrt— Steve Scalise (@SteveScalise) January 5, 2019
Ocasio-Cortez responded quickly — and insultingly.
“You’re the GOP Minority Whip. How do you not know how marginal tax rates work?” she wrote. “Oh that’s right, almost forgot: GOP works for the corporate CEOs showering themselves in multi-million (dollar) bonuses; not the actual working people whose wages + healthcare they’re ripping off for profit.”
Ocasio-Cortez’s supporters weren’t just insulting though. They bordered on threatening.
Scalise sent back a tweet showing some of the more, ahem, measured responses he’d received from liberal Twitter users in Ocasio-Cortez’s corner.
They didn’t make liberals look good.
Hi @AOC. Happy to continue this debate on the Floor of the People’s House, but it’s clearly not productive to engage here with some of your radical followers. #StayClassy pic.twitter.com/lZCO3oiLUZ
— Steve Scalise (@SteveScalise) January 6, 2019
“Hi @AOC. Happy to continue this debate on the Floor of the People’s House, but it’s clearly not productive to engage here with some of your radical followers. #StayClassy,” he tweeted.
Among some of the responses were tweets that included “snipe his a–,” “kick his cane” and “she’s got better aim than James Hodgkinson, that’s for sure.”
Hodgkinson was the man who shot and almost killed Scalise and several others on a baseball field, largely due to an animus against Republicans and conservatives.
As for the users involved, they seemed to shut up relatively quickly.
The one user who talked about “snip(ing) his a–” told Fox News he was only referring to a verbal “sniping” (right) and insisted he didn’t see what the problem was in remarks on Twitter.
not seeing any violence there sorry
— raandy (@randygdub) January 6, 2019
That would be much easier to believe if we weren’t talking about a representative who was very nearly killed simply for being a member of a political party the gunman disagreed with. And the glib “not seeing any violence there” doesn’t do much to inspire confidence, either.
“Snipe” was a considered word choice here. Taken with other Tweets like “kick his cane,” referring to a walking support Scalise was forced to use after the attack, and “she’s got better aim” than Scalise’s near-killer, it’s pretty clear that Ocasio-Cortez’s supporters were intent on creating a physically threatening atmosphere around what should have been a political debate.
Ocasio-Cortez has also not commented on the tweets, even though her Twitter feed, as usual, is open for business and churning out plenty of other stuff.
I don’t necessarily believe that Ocasio-Cortez is a fan of this kind of rhetoric, mind you. I also wouldn’t say this represents a majority of her believers, for whom “socialism” is just a happy-clappy millennial version of liberalism, pushed just a little bit further.
I’m not even sure these individuals knew the import of what they were tweeting. My guess is that these are just sick people who are kind of shocked they got this sort of attention for saying these things.
There is a great irony to what they said, though: Collectivism can, in its purest form, only be enforced through the barrel of a gun. Ocasio-Cortez has been fond of saying since her “60 Minutes” interview that this is only just marginal tax rates and we should just relax.
Except if the money doesn’t come in on the 70 percent marginal tax rate for incomes in the millions of dollars, or it negatively affects our business environment and leads to trickle-down poverty, what do we do then?
When does the 70 percent marginal tax rate go lower? When do people further down the totem pole start feeling the pinch for this absurd “moon shot” Green New Deal in tax dollars?
This is to say nothing, mind you, of the fact it will kill jobs and lead to a massive increase in the cost of living.
And, what planned economy doesn’t go deeper than just one program, at least if those in favor of planning have their way? Who pays for it then? Well, that means the marginal tax rates go even lower. And so on and so on until we’re deeper in collectivism. And if Americans don’t want to pay or play the game, well, there’s always the barrel of a gun to enforce it.
That’s what socialism always comes down to.
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