David Hogg publicly offered support and advice to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Wednesday after doubts were raised about the “trauma” she experienced during the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
What he said: Hogg, an activist and survivor of the 2018 school shooting in Parkland, Florida, told Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: “I support you and you are valid.”
- Hogg went on to condemn conservatives who have suggested Ocasio-Cortez, a New York Democrat, may be overstating the danger she faced during the Capitol riot.
- “It’s disgusting and wrong on so many levels …” he said. “You shouldn’t have to go through this.”
Hogg — whose progressive advocacy has brought him into frequent conflict with the right — also shared that he has found it helpful to delete the Twitter app from his phone to avoid “those incredibly harmful comments.”
Ocasio-Cortez has yet to respond to Hogg on Twitter.
What she said: Hogg’s outreach came in response to a flurry of tweets by Ocasio-Cortez defending her description of the Capitol riot as a near-death experience and presenting herself as a voice for trauma survivors.
- On Wednesday, Ocasio-Cortez dismissed as “manipulative” observations that, by her own lengthy Instagram Live accounts, she was apparently not in the Capitol during the riot but was rather in the nearby congressional office buildings.
- Then, on Thursday, Ocasio-Cortez repeatedly slammed Rep. Nancy Mace, a freshman South Carolina Republican, as “deeply cynical & disgusting” for correcting reporting that rioters had reached their neighboring offices.
- Ocasio-Cortez — who has said she was terrified by the sounds of rioters outside and by a police officer entering her office — accused Mace of harming all survivors of trauma.
- Mace issued a “*FACT CHECK*” forcefully disputing Ocasio-Cortez’s allegations.
The MTG effect: Both Ocasio-Cortez and Hogg have identified Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a freshman Georgia Republican, as one source of their traumas.
Ocasio-Cortez has named Greene among a number of “white supremacist sympathizers” in the GOP congressional caucus who make her feel unsafe.
- Along with other Democrats, Ocasio-Cortez has called for Greene to be punished and for Republican Congress members who promoted the election fraud claims that motivated the Capitol riot to be expelled.
For his part, Hogg has recounted how when Greene confronted him in 2019 — falsely accusing him of being a paid actor — her “triggering questions” forced him to “practice my mindfulness meditation that I’ve often done to cope with my PTSD and my ADHD as well.
- Hogg has joined calls for Greene lose her job over the incident as well as other wild and offensive comments she made before she was elected.
However, Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy made clear on Wednesday that he would not bow to pressure to strip Greene of her committees assignments.
- Instead, the full House will vote on Thursday on a resolution to remove Greene from her committees; it is expected to pass.
