Republicans want AOC to apologize to Ted Cruz, the guy who almost got her killed
Congressional Republicans, led by Texas Rep. Chip Roy, are making an effort to punish New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D) for calling out coup instigator Sen. Ted Cruz (R) and his role in her near-lynching during the January 6 Capitol insurrection. It's a definitive sign that the GOP's transparently craven pivot from being the party of "fuck your feelings" to "let's not be too divisive" has reached a new low.
But let's back up here, and explore how we got to this point:
After a remarkably well-organized cadre of Reddit users pooled their considerable resources into effectively gaming a series of Wall Street stock transactions, AOC tweeted her support for congressional hearings on stock trading app Robinhood and its decision to halt all transactions related to the various "meme stocks" being targeted by the mob. Cruz, in a seeming effort to appear open to bipartisanship (or perhaps just hoping to chase some of Ocasio-Cortez's considerable Twitter clout) jumped on board and tweeted that he, too, would be down for a hearing. Aw, kumbaya, détente, peace in our time, right?
Nope. AOC replied that while she'd be "happy" to work with Republicans on the issue, Cruz "almost had me murdered 3 weeks ago" when he helped justify and instigate the attempted coup, and that he should accordingly "sit this one out" or resign.
AOC is not the only person calling for Cruz to face consequences for his role in the insurrection, but she is, at present, the only one being officially targeted by some of the worst members of the House GOP caucus for it.
Which brings us to the present.
On Monday, Texas Rep. Chip Roy — a man so callous that he once went on national television and, when presented with the fact that migrant children were dying at the U.S-Mexico border, responded simply "fine" — filed an official complaint to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, demanding AOC "immediately apologize and retract her comments." If she doesn't, Roy threatened, "we will be forced to find alternative means to condemn this regrettable statement."
More than a dozen other Republicans joined Roy in his "I'd like to speak with your manager" tantrum. Among them: North Carolina's newly elected, truth-adverse freshman Rep. Madison Cawthorn; Colorado's gun-toting, school-shooting-survivor-antagonizer Rep. Lauren Boebert; and former White House physician-turned-anti-masker Rep. Ronny Jackson.
The GOP legislators closed their letter to Speaker Pelosi by expressing their "sincere hope that we all stop this heightened rhetoric and move forward to actually do the work the American people sent us here to do."
Surely their newfound love of bipartisan progress is completely for real this time. Right?
