Facebook, which no longer funds CPAC, is now sponsoring an upcoming far-left convention.
Netroots and its convention event Netroots Nation, originally founded by the far-left blogosphere during the Bush era, has enjoyed a renaissance amid the Democratic party’s leftward lurch on racial and feminist politics. Aside from Facebook, other sponsors included in the event range from immigration advocacy groups such as Informed Immigrant to pro abortion groups such as Planned Parenthood, NARAL, and the scandal-ridden Women’s March.
Facebook has previously come under fire from liberal news sources like The Daily Beast for sponsoring CPAC in the past.
Leftist agitators have propelled the Democratic party leftward in recent years, and Netroots is a perfect example. In their gathering at 2018 the #BlackAss Caucus took the stage, many holding makeshift signs, demanding further representation in the higher echelons of Democratic leadership. One speaker among them claimed “we have a president who is directly attacking us” and demanded board positions and control at Netroots in the future.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), in her closing keynote speech, addressed the racial activists, saying they deserve to steer the Democratic Party’s future, “the people closest to the pain should be closest to the power.” She stressed that the future of the Democratic Party strategy will not be beating big money from Republicans with big money from Democrats but “big organizing” among Democrats.
If the activists are listened to, the upcoming Netroots gathering will likely be even more unhinged.
Netroots has enjoyed a history of being where the most far left liberals gather. As Vox has observed, “During the [2000’s] it was a key gathering space for the left wing of the Democratic Party — indeed, practically a byword for it.” Vox added that while the Obama presidency allowed the progressive and establishment wings to briefly unify, “the Bernie Sanders’s 2016 campaign renewed infighting and scrambled the factional lines.”
NBC News recalled that this particular event has a historical precedent for incidents where radical activists push for the party to move further leftward, “The event is no stranger to protests, with Bill Clinton, Joe Biden, and Harry Reid, among many others, all being heckled by activists demanding more from party leaders.
“The biggest flashpoint, however, came a year earlier,” NBC News recalled, when Bernie Sanders was shouted down by protestors from the audience. NBC News described the people condemning Sanders as “black female hecklers.”
Even The Young Turks host Cenk Uygur criticized this unruly radical behavior in a broadcast titled “The Netroot of the Problem."
