While a Facebook post calling Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez a “vile idiot” who “needs a round, and I don’t mean the kind she used to serve” has since been deleted, the ramifications and consequences of it are being felt all over, especially in the Gretna Police Department.
Charlie Rispoli, a decade and a half veteran of the police force, was announced as having been fired by police chief Arthur Lawson in a press conference on Monday. Lawson said of the incident was an “embarrassment to our department.” Another officer who liked his Facebook post was terminated as well.
Ocasio-Cortex responded with the following tweet:
This is Trump’s goal when he uses targeted language & threatens elected officials who don’t agree w/ his political agenda. It’s authoritarian behavior.
The President is sowing violence. He’s creating an environment where people can get hurt & he claims plausible deniability. https://t.co/GuYKPGzSLm
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) July 22, 2019
All of this comes at a time when President Trump is claiming that Article 2 of our Constitution gives him “the right to do whatever I want” and that Congresswomen like AOC and Ilhan Omar should “go back to where you came from.”
Comments like those of Rispoli’s have led to shootings of politicians in the recent past, including Steve Scalise and Gabby Giffords. Giffords fully supports and advocates for further gun regulation while Scalise remains against said legislation.
Bill Arceneaux has been an independent writer and film critic in the New Orleans area since 2011, working with outlets like Film Threat, DIG Baton Rouge, Crosstown Conversations, and Occupy. He is a member of the Southeastern Film Critics Association and is Rotten Tomatoes approved. Follow him on Twitter: @billreviews
