Cancel Politics

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) fired off a Tweet heard 'round the beltway, calling for people to archive social media and other internet posts of pro-Trump people in the government. The expectation was that they would quickly start deleting "incriminating" materials in order to hide their associations with the Trump Administration in order to retain their roles in government.

In the wake of this call for action, the Trump Accountability Project sprang into existence, with a stated aim of disallowing Trump voters, funders and staffers from profiting "from their experience." It didn't take very long for accusations of "the Left" engaging in the "persecution of wrongthink" to start becoming virtual water-cooler conversation.

But what were people expecting to happen? Okay, the era of Senator Joseph McCarthy ended some 63 years ago, but that's not very long. If he could manage to get a good chunk of the nation behind him in trying to root Communism out of the United States government, why is anyone surprised that Representative Ocasio-Cortez has managed to round up a batch of activists to try and cancel Trumpists in politics?

I always find it weird when people profess to believe that other people hate them, yet don't seem to believe that those same people are willing to do anything more effective than stew in it. Partisanship in American politics is becoming less about different paths to a goal, and more about existential questions of Good versus Evil. In a Pew study from last year, a full 30% of respondents said that Republicans never govern honestly or ethically. Only 12% of self-described Democrats said that Republicans are somewhat honest and ethical. Is is any wonder that the Progressive wing of the Democratic party wants pro-Trump career politicians gone?

Given the degree to which the Democratic/Republican dynamic in the United States openly trades in the demonization of the other party, even committed partisans can come across as woefully unprepared to understand what that would result in.