This argument applies as much to Australia and the L-NP who lurk in the shadows of the Republican Party playing Simon Says. Politicians who like Antic have no real ideas of their own.
There is simply no “both sides” narrative to what is often euphemistically called “partisan polarization.” America has one political party, the Republicans, wholly devoted to extremism, authoritarianism, and trolling. The other party, the Democrats, has a range of politicians, from centrist to progressive, who all fall within the range of normal political views and none of whom oppose democracy or support violence. People like AOC aren’t “provocative,” so much as they appeal to a bunch of normie Democrats who have a positive and progressive view of politics — and the negative attention they get is largely from rabid right wingers who are tearing this country to shreds. There’s no equivalence here, just one party that is trying to destroy the U.S. as we know it and another party that has some people in it that are trying to stop them.
olddogthoughts 