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The federal government must fund the deprogramming of white supremacists and conspiracy theorists, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said Friday evening.
“The cause of white supremacy is futile, it’s nihilistic,” AOC, a Democrat who represents parts of the Bronx and Queens, said in a virtual meeting Friday night.
“Their world will never exist. That’s why we are seeing violence right now, ”she said, speaking in the wake of the violent siege of the United States Capitol by radical supporters of President Trump.
“We have to pick up these pieces.”
Ocasio-Cortez said the House civil rights subcommittee she sits on has held hearings over the past two years on white supremacy and said there are programs to “de-radicalize” adherents subjected to brainwashing.
But she said funding was not a priority for these programs during the Trump years.
“There are people who are radicalized right now. It will take a long time to de-radicalize these people and a lot of effort, ”she said.
“This is a problem that does not go away on January 20,” the congresswoman said, referring to the moment Trump leaves the White House and is replaced by President-elect Joe Biden.
She said many fringe radicals operate in a “disinformation bubble” and it will take more than one conversation to deprogram them, equating it to therapy.
But, she said, research has shown that “a cure is possible.”
“We need to double, triple or quadruple the funding for these programs,” Ocasio-Cortez said.
AOC has said that there is a spectrum of radicalization that ranges from sympathizers and conspiracy theorists to neo-Nazis. Such a radical ideology could lead to domestic violence and terrorism.
She said Trump’s mistakenly pushed conspiracy theory that the election was stolen from him radicalized supporters who invaded Capitol Hill last week, resulting in violence and the deaths of five people. AOC said she believed her life was in danger.
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