A TV Star from the show ‘Queer Eye’ said something sorta ‘nice’ about Republicans on his Twitter account yesterday. Here’s what happened, via The Wrap.
At first Jonathan Van Ness simply tweeted that he thought the chances for Democrats to win the House and Senate back would be better if they could find some ‘center left’ Democrats to run against the ‘extreme’ Republicans:
Luckily a lot to extreme right people won yesterday, meaning that if we can come up w center left candidates we can take back the house & senate, not to mention many state legislatures. It is so important for the left to not go too left or we are done for.
— Jonathan Van Ness (@jvn) August 15, 2018
Well that was quickly met with opposition:
This is the worst political advice ever. Progressive candidates that actually stand for something are how we win. Running towards the center with Clinton just gave us 4 years of Trump – let’s not be silly again. People want universal healthcare… period.
— ಠ_ಠ (@jizzywinks) August 15, 2018
Ironically, we’ve made similar arguments about Republicans, saying we want principled Republicans and not mushy milktoast RINOs.
Someone else replied:
Ah, yes… “mutual understanding” with racists…. pic.twitter.com/sFkoIZ70hS
— Backwoods Barbie (@LGBTmayo) August 15, 2018
So Ness hit back:
Not all republicans are racist. Just like not all democrars are evil, we have to stop demonizing eachother. Unless you’re actually racist then you suck, Trump is Racist – not all his voters are necessarily we gotta remember we are all in this together.
— Jonathan Van Ness (@jvn) August 15, 2018
Wow, how generous of him to say that not ALL Republicans are racist. I guess that’s saying something ‘nice’ coming from the left.
And then came the onslaught:
You should probably define your definition of racism , because here it sounds like you think racism is "Being mean to another person personally" instead of something like …supporting and enabling a policy that is designed to negatively impact people of color.
— Patrick Claybon (@PatrickClaybon) August 15, 2018
First of all, I adore you…that said, at this stage I couldn’t disagree more with your stance. That’s like saying not all Nazis hated Jews and Gays. Unfortunately we’ve socially tipped past the point of ‘compromise’. Especially with a Party that has absolutely no interest in it.
— Robert Ohotto (@RobertOhotto) August 16, 2018
No they are. All republicans perpetuate institutionalised racism.
— Lisle Smellton 🌹 (@CoreyLisle) August 15, 2018
black people murdered by police are not "all in this together", they're dead… murdered trans women are not "all in this together", they're dead… Nazis don't "suck", they're vile & deserve to be eliminated from the conversation..you've got a platform.. ditch the fluff
— Backwoods Barbie (@LGBTmayo) August 15, 2018
No his voters are racist. He campaigned on racism, he won on racism. If you’re not racist you don’t vote for a racist. Why are you so desperate to find a grey area?
— G.G. (@ggsacks) August 15, 2018
We’re literally living in a time where it’s Nazis vs anyone in America they want gone. Just to be clear, @jvn you want us to compromise with Nazis?
— j (@arudave) August 16, 2018
I could go on, but you get the idea.
To his credit, he didn’t back down from his original position:
Also if you’re upset at a tweet I made leave gurl bai! Being able to compromise is what’s missing from both sides of the American political situation & the sooner we all get to a place of mutual understanding the sooner we will get out of this mess.
— Jonathan Van Ness (@jvn) August 15, 2018
Actually I think compromise is exactly what got us into all this mess. If Republicans actually stood up for their principles and refused to keep compromising with the left, we’d be in much better shape. I mean, why do you think Democrats won back the House and Senate in 2007? Because Republicans lost their way and people got sick of it.
They still hadn’t found their way back, so now we have Trump. And things are only moderately starting to improve.