Was That A Death Threat?

Deciphering a troll’s comment on Twitter

Photo by Joshua Sukoff on Unsplash

The January 6th riot left most Americans and for that matter, the world stunned. The floor of Congress has seen its share of angry debate and even threats of violence, few incidents have rivaled the events of January 6th.

On her Instagram, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez posted a video that retraced the events she experienced that week leading up to January 6th. She began her post by mentioning a previous trauma that obviously influenced her reaction to the events surrounding the riots on January 6th.

Many Trump supporters began to gather early in Washington DC that week and seemed to seek out the Congresswoman, but not in a good way.

The congresswoman said that she hesitated to tell her story and how it affected how she processed the events of January 6th because she feared how it would be perceived.

In the days leading up to the riots, she began receiving texts from other members of Congress telling her to be careful, specifically on January 6th. They were hearing whispers of plans for that day. AOC prepared the best she could by working with her staff to develop a security plan. They decided that she and only one other staffer would work in the office on the Capitol on the 6th.

On January 6th, while she’s working in her office, she hears loud violent bangs on her door and all the doors leading into her office — like someone was trying to break down the door. They did not identify themselves. She’s in the office with her staffer — he suggests she should hide. Meanwhile, the banging continues. As she’s hiding, she hears someone yell,

“Where is she? Where is she?”

At that moment, she expressed the fear she was going to die. It turns out the man was a Capitol police officer, but he hadn’t identified himself as such when he entered the office and he didn’t have a partner with him. She said that “…he looked at her with a tremendous amount of anger and hostility.” Neither AOC nor her staffer knew if the officer was there to help or to hurt them.

The officer advised her to move to another building within the Capitol building complex. They did. As they moved through the hallways of the complex, they heard the…