They take issues at race value.
Queen Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and her “Squad” colleagues in the House of Representatives have a history of branding opponents and policies they disagree with as racist or white supremacist.
They’ve done so to former President Trump and Fox News, but the chamber’s most progressive lawmakers also have targeted the New York Times, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and many others, a review of social media shows.
“Let this front page serve as a reminder of how white supremacy is aided by — and often relies upon — the cowardice of mainstream institutions,” AOC tweeted at The Times after the paper published what she deemed to be an insufficiently anti-Trump headline.
“TRUMP URGES UNITY VS. RACISM,” read the headline.
When Schumer publicly weighed a deal to fund Trump’s border wall in exchange for the president’s support for protections for illegal immigrants under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA), she slammed him on racial lines.
“Your weakness will help build a monument to white supremacy,” AOC hissed in a tweet.
Most recently, the congresswoman said the decision to ban athlete Sha’Carri Richardson from the Olympics over past marijuana usage was rooted in “systemic racism.” She has accused President Biden’s bipartisan infrastructure deal of propping up “structural racism.”
Freshman NYC Rep. Jamaal Bowman — who ousted the consensus-oriented moderate Eliot Engel — also freely drops race bombs.
“The filibuster is a pillar upholding white supremacy. It’s time to end it. The electoral college is a pillar upholding white supremacy. It’s time to abolish it. Student loan debt is a pillar upholding white supremacy. It’s time to cancel all of it,” he said in a January twitter thread.
“Standardized testing is a pillar of systemic racism,” he added in March. Bail is also racist, according to Bowman.
Cori Bush, a newly elected Democrat from Missouri who is closely aligned to The Squad, has joined the racial card game as well.
“The death penalty, Private prisons, ICE … All of these uphold and protect white supremacy and need to be abolished,” she said in March. Qualified immunity for cops? That’s a tool of “white supremacy” too.
The United States as a whole was also not spared.
“Our communities wouldn’t have needed to spark a national movement to save Black lives if America weren’t racist AF,” she said in another tweet.
Even longtime Democratic talking points have been racialized. Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib has said “corporate greed” is part of white supremacy. Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar has said it’s a cause of gun violence.
“The racism label has just become a way to not engage with anyone’s arguments. You don’t have to engage with an argument if you label it as racist,” said Matt Walsh, a conservative provocateur who recently made headlines raising $100,000 for AOC’s allegedly impoverished grandmother.