There are hot takes, and then there’s just plain ghoulishness. Even for Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, this level of politicization and exploitation of a tragedy while it’s still unfolding has to set a new moral nadir, not to mention plumb the depths of idiocy.

As our friends in New Zealand tried responding to save the lives of dozens of Muslim worshipers in a Christchurch mosque, this is what was on Ocasio-Cortez’ mind (via Twitchy):

At 1st I thought of saying, “Imagine being told your house of faith isn’t safe anymore.”

But I couldn’t say “imagine.”

Because of Charleston.
Pittsburgh.
Sutherland Springs.

What good are your thoughts & prayers when they don’t even keep the pews safe?pic.twitter.com/2mSw0azDN8

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) March 15, 2019

In case Twitter followers didn’t grasp her brilliance, Ocasio-Cortez followed up with this handy cheat sheet:

(“Thoughts and prayers” is reference to the NRA’s phrase used to deflect conversation away from policy change during tragedies. Not directed to PM Ardern, who I greatly admire.)

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) March 15, 2019

Good Lord. Imagine being so cold-hearted as to not consider praying or wishing well for victims of a senseless massacre as it’s unfolding. And then imagine how it must feel to be someone who’s first instinct in that situation is to make fun of people praying, and then exploit the tragedy to attack your entirely uninvolved political enemies. That kind of soullessness is itself a tragedy.

Now add that to what had been a merely amusing ignorance on Ocasio-Cortez’ part until now. Needless to say, the NRA doesn’t have anything to do with New Zealand’s policies, let alone the self-described “eco-fascist” perp who committed this massacre. If Ocasio-Cortez wants to discuss policy in this tragedy, she should first acknowledge that New Zealand already has stricter gun-control policies than those in the US, although not as strict as in nearby Australia. New Zealand is about as far away from the US as it is possible to get, so whatever issues we have here have nothing to do with what happened last night at the mosque.

However, the perp apparently hoped to impact the US with this massacre:

He says he also wanted “to create conflict between the two ideologies within the United States on the ownership of firearms in order to further the social, cultural, political and racial divide within the United states.

“This conflict over the 2nd amendment and the attempted removal of firearms rights will ultimately result in a civil war that will eventually balkanize the US along political, cultural and, most importantly, racial lines.” …

“With enough pressure the left wing within the United states will seek to abolish the second amendment, and the right wing within the US will see this as an attack on their very freedom and liberty.

“This attempted abolishment of rights by the left will result in a dramatic polarization of the people in the United States and eventually a fracturing of the US along cultural and racial lines.”

Good to know he can count on Ocasio-Cortez to cooperate in that effort. The perp was a lunatic self-described racist for the most part, although his politics were all over the board. His ultra-nationalism puts him on the far fringe of the Right, to the point where it loops back around to the Communist China-loving fringe on the Left:

https://twitter.com/ashsoles/status/1106510866323853315

Basically, the perp was an all-purpose fascist of the kind that is just simply evil. That’s a concept that people of prayer know all too well, and that people who denigrate faith usually like to explain away.

Pray for the victims and their families from the mosque in Christchurch, and for our friends in New Zealand who are dealing with this horrible atrocity of hate. And pray for Ocasio-Cortez too, who needs it more than she thinks.