There’s a bit of a false dichotomy lurking here. The following all seem objectively true to me:
1. AOC is well qualified for her position and does an admirable job. She takes her job seriously and works hard. Even those well to right of her should acknowledge this if they were to be honest. I can respect people that come to different conclusions than me when their thinking is well-reasoned.
2. Ted Cruz and the Trump terrorist movement is very bad and deserves lots of shaming. Twitter shaming is getting off easy for them. There’s no need to condemn AOC for going after them. Have at it.
3. A significant part of AOC’s public communications involve extracting the Twitter pound of flesh. She’s really good at this. Sometimes it’s warranted, but often it’s not. Sometimes it’s helpful to the cause, but more often it probably isn’t. It may feel good in the moment, but sometimes the winning move is not to play.
4. r/murderedbyAOC is not a positive reflection of our discourse. Just because it’s less harmful than the rantings of deranged republican lunatics doesn’t mean that it’s helpful. AOC is good at defeating people on Twitter, but sometimes destroying your enemy isn’t the same as victory. The last 4 years should have taught us this.
5. A sharp Twitter tongue is a powerful tool. We just watched it incite a terrorist movement. Adults in the room have a responsibility to manage this power responsibly, even if their opponents aren’t. Otherwise, we all lose. Fighting fire with fire is fun until you burn everything down. Remember, this is a goal of a large part of the Trump terrorist movement.
6. On the whole, AOC is a net positive on the national scene, but her Twitter presence is a negative. More often than not, tearing down opponents on Twitter only pushes us all deeper into the madness that we’ve lovingly embraced. Each step seems small, but they clearly add up.
In summary, the culture of trying to humiliate opponents verbally is making things worse, not better. AOC is a master at this game. She does other things very well, but in this respect she’s contributing to the deteriorating culture. Ted Cruz is terrible and supports a terrorist movement. I support and admire AOC or any other victim of the Trump terrorist movement speaking honestly about their experiences.