So, who wants to be the FBI and DOJ will do jack fucking shit about the Senate Majority Leader's campaign appearing to incite rape and murder against a sitting Congresswoman?Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York put Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on notice after a photo of several teens posing with a cutout of her image went viral on social media.
The photo shows seven teens wearing T-shirts in support of McConnell's 2020 reelection campaign at the Fancy Farm Picnic in Kentucky. The teens, at least two of whom recently played for the Lexington Christian Academy's football team, according to school records, made several gestures with the congresswoman's cutout — including one who gave it a mock kiss and another who appeared to choke the cutout's neck with his hand.
"Hey @senatemajldr - these young men look like they work for you," Ocasio-Cortez tweeted at McConnell. "Just wanted to clarify: are you paying for young men to practice groping & choking members of Congress w/ your payroll, or is this just the standard culture of #TeamMitch? Thanks."
The images were taken offline by Monday evening. One of the teens did not immediately respond to INSIDER's request for comment.
In a statement to INSIDER, McConnell's campaign said the teens were not campaign employees and accused liberals and the news media of looking "for every possible way to demonize, stereotype, and publicly castigate every young person who dares to get involved with Republican politics."
"They're high schoolers and it's incredible that the national media has sought to once again paint a target on their backs rather than report real and significant news in our country," McConnell's campaign manager, Kevin Golden, said in a statement.
Golden also noted a similar incident in which Jon Favreau, the speechwriter for then-President-elect Barack Obama, was pictured in 2008 groping a cutout of Hillary Clinton at a party.
"[We] in no way [condone] any aggressive, suggestive, or demeaning act toward life sized cardboard cutouts of any gender in a manner similar to what we saw from President Obama's speechwriting staff several years ago," he said.
The picnic included speeches from lawmakers, including McConnell, and other hopeful politicians from both political parties. Other cardboard cutouts of political figures were displayed at the event, including Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch as well as McConnell.
Some of the teens who posed with Ocasio-Cortez's cutout were pictured holding cutouts of other political figures. The image was also shared on social media through one of McConnell's official campaign accounts.
I feel terrible for Ocasio-Cortez and her family. All she has done is to exercise her right to political participation, to stand up for what she believes in in a non-violent and lawful manner, and earned the support of enough of her constituents doing it to be elected to Congress. In fact, she has done far more of value with her life than the vast majority of people, never mind people her age. She should be admired and respected by everyone in America for this. And yet, in the space of two years she has gone from an ordinary public citizen, to having the most powerful men in American basically trying to incite her murder. Because she's brown, and she's a woman, and she's not on their team.
I may not support militia violence or armed resistance, but I think its far past time for the DNC to provide armed security for its candidates and events, especially those, like Ocasio-Cortez, who have been specifically targeted by Trump and other Republican leaders (note that Congressmembers do not get Secret Service protection). And as a Democrat, I'd be more than willing to donate to help fund armed security for every Democratic Congressional and Gubernatorial candidate.