The federal government should fund the de-programming of white supremacists and conspiracy theorists, rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said Friday night.
“The white supremacist case is useless, it’s nihilistic,” AOC, a Democrat representing parts of The Bronx and Queens, said during a virtual meeting in City Hall Friday night.
“Their world will never exist. That is why we are seeing violence at the moment. “, She said following the violent siege of the American Capitol by radical supporters of President Trump.
“We have to pick up the pieces.”
Ocasio-Cortez said the House subcommittee on civil rights in which she serves has held hearings on white supremacy over the past two years, saying there are programs to “radicalize” brainwashed supporters.
But she said funding was not a priority for the programs during the Trump years.
“There are currently people who are radicalizing. It will take a very long time to radicalize these people and a lot of effort, ”she said.
“This is a problem that will not go away on January 20,” the congresswoman said, referring to when Trump leaves the White House and is succeeded by President-elect Joe Biden.
She said that many fringe radicals function in a ‘wrong information bubble’, and that it takes more than one conversation to de-program them and compare it to therapy.
But according to her, research has shown that “healing is possible.”
“We need to double, triple or double the funding for these programs,” Ocasio-Cortez said.
AOC said there is a spectrum of radicalization ranging from sympathizers to conspiracy theorists, to Neo-Nazis. Such radical ideology can lead to violence and domestic terrorism.
She said the conspiracy theory was wrongly driven by Trump that the election was stolen from him, radicalizing his supporters who invaded the Capitol last week, leading to violence and the deaths of five people. AOC said she feels her life is threatened.