I hope this begins to disprove the demonizing narratives about AOC among Republicans. There’s no way to spin this. It’s a genuinely good deed, and anyone with eyes and ears can see it.
Right-wing media has been depicting Democrats as socialist monsters that want to control them. In reality, they just want to help as many people as possible. They just believe government should play a bigger role in that than conservatives do. I hope more people realize that now.
And I’m not talking about Republican lawmakers or right-wind media. I don’t expect any epiphany from them. I’m talking about the voters. I know it’s only anecdotal, but I’m seeing a lot of positive responses to AOC and Beto’s efforts in Texas from Republican voters on Facebook.
Right-wing*
These are the kind of anecdotes I was talking about in this thread yesterday.
I’m seeing a lot of “I don’t agree with AOC’s politics, but this is an amazing move” on Facebook from Republicans.
It’s actually looking like Pelosi’s decision to not immediately impeach has actually garnered the effort more momentum and some Republican support as more donors began to pull funds away from Republicans who supported the attempted coup.
I mean, on impeachment eve, Dems coudn't have better headlines than House Republicans backing their effort and McConnell reportedly saying he is pleased with the effort and wants to purge Trump from the GOP.
It is much harder for Republicans to frame Trump's impeachment as a divisive, partisan measure when some of their Republican colleagues are supporting it. Democrats can now claim that impeachment is bipartisan and unifying.
Big news. What happens next depends on if McConnell sees that this is the perfect opportunity to ensure Trump doesn’t hover over the 2024 field. If they convict, it’ll be for purely selfish reasons.
It’s a moment where McConnell’s self-interest aligns with doing the right thing.
Another thing to keep in mind is a big part of McConnell’s legacy is his campaign finance impact and ability to raise funds… if anyone has their ears to the ground on what donors are saying, it’s McConnell. And right now, big donors are not feeling Trump and balking the GOP.
Trump does something terrible. At first, they’re caught flat-footed, but within days, they unite behind an excuse to avoid accountability and an unrelated deflection grievance.
This time, it’s calls to “unify & move on” and their free speech outrage.
Republicans are telling Democrats to "turn down the temperature” that they themselves raised.
They demonized the left, lied about the election, and incited an insurrection and now they think it’s on Dems to turn down the heat? Nah. That’s on them.
It’s accountability time.
If Republicans want to garner literally any goodwill whatsoever, they all need to play a part in deprogramming the Trump cult.
They should go on right-wing media and tell the people they radicalized that they lied to them. They won’t do it, but that would be a good start.
Many Republicans are deflecting blame exclusively to Trump, Hawley, and Cruz. No, they all own this.
Every Republican who supported Trump knowing damn well he was a threat to democracy should apologize and atone for their role in this.
And yes, that means lawmakers AND voters.
For the past 5 years, Republicans cheered on and defended downright depraved and authoritarian behavior. From separating migrant families to Charlottesville to Ukraine to assaults on peaceful protestors to thr election lies.
They can’t suddenly act like they had no part in this.
I wrote about it in this piece. When it comes to the GOP, their culpability in the radicalization of their base goes far beyond just the past five years.
To be a Republican right now is to put one man above your country.
It’s to be in total opposition to democracy itself, and specifically, one that allows Black people equal voting rights.
What we're seeing is an embrace of fascism. We can never let anyone whitewash this era.
This was not just another Republican President. This was not just a moment where "both sides” were polarized.
This is a moment where one side of the country, gaslit into a false reality by one man and his propagandists, turned against what America is supposed to stand for.
We can’t sugarcoat this. We can’t beat around it. We need to call this era what it was and hold the people who enabled it accountable.
These were people who shamelessly, disgustingly, abused their power and influence with complete disregard for the consequences of their actions.
Every Trump lie of voter fraud has been disproven.
Every QAnon prediction has failed to come to fruition.
Despite this, millions of people still wait for the next drop, clinging on to the never-ending promise of an incoming revelation or "storm."
How do we break this spell?
I’ve been thinking about this a lot. I wonder if the best approach is the one used to get people out of cults.
It’s not to berate them or tell them they’re crazy, but to remind them of who they were before this. People who break out of cults usually have family pull them out.
I don’t like being simplistic and saying it’s racism so we can't reach out. It’s not just that. There are also good, non-racist people being misled by personalized disinfo bubbles on Facebook.
Maybe compassion really is the best approach? Just don't know how to do that at scale.