Ronald Reagan biographer Craig Shirley has a message for Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and other progressive activists threatening to punish President Donald Trump’s backers for their political views.
“Tortious interference has been a law since before the Constitution. It is illegal, and has been for years for a third party to interfere with the legal commerce between one party and another,” Shirley told The Epoch Times on Nov. 19.
“If she is responsible for even one person in the United States not getting a job or getting fired and the boss says, ‘I’m not hiring you because of what AOC said,’ or ‘I’m not hiring you because of your politics,’ she has committed tortious interference and has opened herself up to massive litigation.”
Shirley was referring to the socialist New York congresswoman who was dubbed “AOC” by the media when she came out of nowhere to defeat veteran Rep. Joe Crowley in the Democratic primary in 2018.
The purpose of the lists would be to track Trump’s appointees and supporters.
On its website, Sevugan’s group described its purpose as “to make sure those members of the Trump administration responsible for loosening the guardrails of our democracy are not rewarded with book deals, TV contracts, or six-figure salaries in the private sector based on that experience.”
Sevugan subsequently said his project would be idle, pending the outcome of Joe Biden’s promised effort to unify the country if he becomes president.
Elsewhere, in the days following the Nov. 3 election, other prominent voices on the left proposed various “truth and reconciliation commissions” to investigate the actions and statements of Trump appointees and supporters and to propose civil and/or criminal penalties for them.
‘Do the Reverse’
Republicans in Congress are speaking out against AOC and others who are seeking to inflict retribution against Trump supporters and appointees.“No matter how much Democrats talk about unity, the reality is that their goal is to bring cancel culture to Washington,” Rep. Ted Budd (R-N.C.) told The Epoch Times on Nov. 19.
“This list-making and these threats of retribution aren’t just an outrageous example of the radicalism of the socialist left, they also will forever damage the political culture of Congress and make it impossible to ever work with someone you disagree with,” Budd said.
Legal scholars interviewed by The Epoch Times agreed with Budd regarding the damage retributive actions would inflict upon the nation’s political culture.
“If Democrats want to be a majority party, they should listen attentively to what AOC says and then do the reverse,” said constitutional lawyer Walter Olson.
“Instead of keeping enemies lists, think of people on the other side as reachable. Stop trying to force politics into every realm of life. What wins on social media doesn’t win in the country,” Olson said.
“Come to think of it, this all makes good advice for Republicans too.”
“If the retribution just keeps ramping up after each election, it’s not just going to be on one side,” Keating warned.