Trump Culture of Hate Trickles Down as GOP's Yoho
Accosts AOC on Capitol Steps: "F*****g B*tch"
July 2020 - One of the many concerns we had when Donald Trump became President was that his name-calling, bullying, and boorish behavior would lead to a coarsening of the political discourse in this country. Not that right-wing media demagogues like Rush Limbaugh hadn't been leading susceptible people down that path already, but to have a party leader behave in such a manner signaled trouble ahead to us.
Unfortunately, we were right. The latest example occurred last week. New York freshman Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (more commonly referred to as AOC) was verbally accosted on the steps of our nation's Capitol by Congressman Theodore (Ted) Yoho (R-FL), while on her way to cast a vote on the House floor.
Walking up the steps, minding her own business, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez was approached by Mr. Yoho who was on his way out of the Capitol. Mr. Yoho stuck his finger in AOC's face and called her "crazy, shameful, disgusting, out of her mind, and dangerous". In front of at least one reporter, he also called her a "f***g bitch". Apparently Mr. Yoho was upset with AOC over a recent comment of hers regarding crime in NYC, when she said that the economic desperation caused by the pandemic may be putting people "in a position where they feel like they either need to shoplift some bread or go hungry that night."
 (image from fox40jackson.com)
Mr. Yoho was accompanied by another Republican Congressman, Roger Williams of Texas. Mr. Williams' actions on the steps perfectly exemplified another concern of ours: how today's Republican Party has responded to having Donald Trump as their party leader. At best, despite his being close enough to have heard the garbage being spewed by Mr. Yoho, Mr. Williams said and did nothing (his account). At worst (AOC's account), he joined in with Mr. Yoho, exclaiming something about "throwing urine."
As we said in another article we wrote involving Ms. Ocasio-Cortez ("Kentucky GOP Chickens Out: Uninvites AOC to Coal Country"), we don't always agree with what she has to say, but we do admire her for being one smart, savvy, tough woman, who cares deeply about her constituents and our nation. As AOC herself said on the House floor two days later, Mr. Yoho's words didn't hurt her, she's heard worse. But she also said that, when she worked in bars back in her New York City House District, she'd thrown men out of those bars for saying things comparable to what Mr. Yoho had said.
What do you think the chances are that the GOP will throw Mr. Yoho out of the Congress? You're right; probably as good as the chance that Mr. Trump was going to be convicted by the GOP Senate for high crimes and misdemeanors last winter. (See our article, "Conservatives Supporting Trump Inpeachment", about why so many conservatives disagreed with the Senate and thought Mr. Trump should have been convicted.) We should add, however, that many Republicans did condemn Mr. Yoho's conduct, although we have not read any GOP comments regarding Mr. Williams.
What does bother AOC about Mr. Yoho's comments, though, was this: not only have almost all women had to put up with these types of dehumanizing comments in the past, but that comments of this type still are considered normal or even acceptable in some circles. Few women would disagree and most thoughtful men probably feel the same way.
Since this concern of Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez was expressed more eloquently in the speech she delivered to the House than we could summarize it, we are including a clip of her remarks below. Ms. Ocasio-Cortez' speech ends just before the 10 minute mark in the video.
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