Remember Josh Hawley’s Fist Pump That Got Him Smeared As A Nazi? AOC Just Did The Same Thing

Olivia HajicekJuly 20, 2022

New York Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and 16 other members of Congress were arrested by Capitol Police on Tuesday for “Crowding, Obstructing or Incommoding” at a pro-abortion protest outside the Supreme Court.

Videos show both Ocasio-Cortez and Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota with their hands behind their backs as if in handcuffs while they were led away by Capitol Police, with Ocasio-Cortez raising her fist to a group of protesters as she and another woman are escorted away from the Supreme Court.

Besides broadcasting that Ocasio-Cortez was not actually handcuffed, the gesture was strikingly similar to one that got Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri compared to a Nazi, smeared by former supporters, and even blamed for violent actions at the U.S. Capitol last January.

Outside Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, Hawley raised his fist to the still-peaceful crowd of protesters in an apparent show of solidarity. Like many of the protesters, Hawley argued the election was riddled with law-breaking and errors and opposed certifying the results in Congress.

After Hawley’s campaign used a photo of the fist raise to create campaign merchandise, Politico accused Hawley of copyright infringement and told him to stop using it.

The media also had a heyday smearing Hawley for promoting the idea of an erroneous election. The Associated Press reported that a number of people who once supported Hawley openly attacked him after Jan. 6, saying “Republicans recoil from Missouri Sen. Hawley after siege.” An editorial from The Kansas City Star, a Missouri news outlet, accused Hawley of having blood on his hands, with another one going after him for “offering a fist pump of encouragement to the rioters.” Meanwhile, Joe Biden implied Hawley was a Nazi, accusing him of spreading the “big lie” and invoking Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels.

Don’t hold your breath waiting for editorials about AOC’s fist-pump in support of an industry that has the blood of millions of unborn children on its hands.

Olivia Hajicek is an intern at The Federalist and a junior at Hillsdale College studying history and journalism. She has covered campus and city news as a reporter for The Hillsdale Collegian. You can reach her at [email protected].