A protester who called for Americans to ‘eat the babies’ to fight climate change at AOC’s town hall was revealed as a member of a pro-Trump fringe group

October 4, 2019 in News by RBN Staff

 

Source: Business Insider

A protester at Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s New York town hall. 
Screenshot/C-SPAN

  • A protester disrupted a Thursday town hall held by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in Queens, New York, yelling that Americans should “eat the babies” to reduce carbon emissions and fight climate change.
  • Ocasio-Cortez attempted to calm the woman down, saying that “we all need to understand that there are a lot of solutions that we have” to slow climate change.
  • President Donald Trump retweeted a video of the incident and called Ocasio-Cortez a “Wack Job.” The president’s eldest son tweeted that the woman “seems like a normal AOC supporter to me.”
  • But soon after a video of the incident went viral on Thursday night, a far-right pro-Trump group called the LaRouche movement announced on Twitter that it was behind the protester.
  • The group, which promotes a host of conspiracy theories, also linked to a post on its website calling the reduction of carbon emissions a “mass-murder policy.”
  • Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

On Thursday night, a protester disrupted a town hall held by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in Queens, New York, yelling that Americans should “eat the babies” and “bomb Russia” to reduce carbon emissions and fight climate change.

Ocasio-Cortez, an outspoken Democratic freshman congresswoman, attempted to calm the woman down, saying that “we all need to understand that there are a lot of solutions that we have” to slow climate change.

Right-wing media outlets and online provocateurs, including Breitbart, The Daily Wire, and the activist Candace Owens, quickly jumped on the exchange, accusing Ocasio-Cortez of condoning the woman’s calls to “eat babies.”

The Fox News host Tucker Carlson said it was “pretty revealing” that Ocasio-Cortez didn’t reject the woman’s comments.

Read more: Germany’s considering a new tax on meat — but it might not be a model for Democrats who want Americans to eat fewer hamburgers

“If someone said to you ‘We need to eat the babies,’ wouldn’t your first response be ‘What? No, of course not! Eat the babies?'” Carlson said on his prime-time show on Thursday night. “That’s the one thing that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez didn’t say. Ha! Pretty revealing.”

President Donald Trump retweeted a video of the incident, calling Ocasio-Cortez a “Wack Job.” His eldest son tweeted that the woman “seems like a normal AOC supporter to me.”

Donald J. Trump

@realDonaldTrump

AOC is a Wack Job! https://twitter.com/donaldjtrumpjr/status/1179913243151785989 

Donald Trump Jr.

@DonaldJTrumpJr

Seems like a normal AOC supporter to me. https://twitter.com/realsaavedra/status/1179908480322289664 

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But soon after a video of the incident went viral on Thursday night, a far-right fringe group called the LaRouche movement announced on Twitter that it was behind the protester.

“AOC doesn’t rule out eating babies,” it wrote.

The group, which promotes a host of conspiracy theories, also linked to a post on its website calling the reduction of carbon emissions a “mass-murder policy.”

Matthew Sweet, a British journalist who wrote a book investigating LaRouche, called the group a “bizarre political cult” and pointed out that it had staged several other demonstrations similar to the woman’s interruption on Thursday night.

“They’ve been doing this since the ’70s,” Sweet told The Washington Post. “The tactic is you go to a political meeting and you create a disturbance that disrupts the meeting, and more importantly, that creates a kind of chaos.”

The group, which was founded as a Marxist group by Lyndon LaRouche in the 1960s, transformed into a right-wing conspiracy-theorist movement in the 1970s. LaRouche, who spent several years in prison for fraud in the 1990s, died in February at 96.

Matthew Sweet

@DrMatthewSweet

So who was this woman? Not a climate activist. Not even, perhaps, someone with a mental illness. She is a representative of the bizarre political cult once led by Lyndon LaRouche. Previous targets for this kind of stunt include @Janefonda Olof Palme & Michael Dukakis. Now @AOC.

View image on Twitter

Matthew Sweet

@DrMatthewSweet

The LaRouchies are pretty exotic. They believe that the Queen controls the drugs trade. They think Prince Philip wants to start WW3. They think Bertrand Russell used the Beatles as part of a secret British psy war against the USA. They are, to use a technical term, nuts.

View image on TwitterView image on TwitterView image on Twitter
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Ocasio-Cortez fired back at the president, tweeting that being a “wack job” is “better than being a criminal who betrays our country.”

She also said that she refused to condemn the protester’s comments because she was concerned for the woman’s mental health.

“This person may have been suffering from a mental condition and it’s not okay that the right-wing is mocking her and potentially make her condition or crisis worse,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote. “Be a decent human being and knock it off.”

Ocasio-Cortez later tweeted that the revelation that the woman was associated with a right-wing group “doesn’t rule out potential mental issue.”

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

@AOC

Turns out the woman yelling was a Trump supporter 🤷🏽‍♀️

Doesn’t rule out potential mental issue (Drs do that) but good to know they were not in crisis.

Earlier this year I was stalked & very nearly hurt by a disturbed person. I don’t take chances & immediately try to de-escalate. https://twitter.com/jessefferguson/status/1180094494441693185 

Jesse Ferguson

@JesseFFerguson

Important thread. The plant at @AOC town hall was one of the wacko pro-Trump Larouche cult.

Of course. https://twitter.com/DrMatthewSweet/status/1180000492707024897 

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