The ‘Politics of Me’ Is Arrogant and Divisive, as Spike Lee, Ocasio-Cortez and Others Demonstrate

Hollywood director Spike Lee, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), embattled actor Jussie Smollett and other liberals manifest the entitled “politics of me” that celebrates division and smug feelings of moral superiority, Fox News host Laura Ingraham said Monday night on “The Ingraham Angle.”

Lee (pictured above right) won his first Oscar during Sunday’s Academy Awards ceremony for Best Adapted Screenplay. Lee has directed films for more than 30 years; many people believed he was overdue for recognition at the Oscars. He ultimately won for the film, “BlacKkKlansman.”

But Lee brought politics into his victory speech when he pointedly reminded Hollywood that “the 2020 presidential election is around the corner.”

“Let’s all mobilize. Let’s all be on the right side of history. Make the moral choice between love versus hate. Let’s do the right thing,” Lee said, reading from a script.

Ingraham said on Monday night, “Rather than showing humility or gratitude, he ‘spiked’ the moment with a tiresome political diatribe.”

“Like I’ve said before, liberals are angry sometimes even when they should be happy. And most are off-the-charts intolerant and judgmental of people who don’t think like they do.” She added that Lee “suffers from kind of a deficit of both subtlety and grace.”

“It’s the same arrogant, self-important thinking that propelled ‘Empire’ star Jussie Smollett into believing he could stage an anti-MAGA hoax and then conclude that he emerges a hero,” Ingraham said. “Making a scene and casting yourself as the wounded martyr is what these elites do best.”

Smollett turned himself in to Chicago police last Thursday morning on suspicion of filing a false report and disorderly conduct. He was released later that day after paying $10,000 toward his bail.

The actor, who is gay and African-American, alleged that two white supporters of President Donald Trump attacked him on January 29. Smollett said they threw a noose around his neck and yelled, “This is MAGA country!”

But Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson said during a press conference last week that Smollett allegedly paid $3,500 to two Nigerian brothers who played extras on “Empire” to carry out the “attack” against him — because he was “dissatisfied with his salary.”

Ingraham also pointed to how Ocasio-Cortez (above left) exemplifies the “politics of me” through her own attitude of moral superiority in pushing her radical Green New Deal proposal to combat climate change.

“Like most of today’s social justice warriors, AOC truly believes she’s always morally right. And that notion entitles her to be one of the leaders of — not the #MeToo movement — but the Me Me Me movement,” Ingraham said. “She’s been on the job for exactly two months, and you would swear her Green New Deal is a second Declaration of Independence.”

Related: Donald Trump Calls Out Spike Lee for His ‘Racist’ Oscar Speech

Ocasio-Cortez raised some eyebrows on Friday when she suggested Democrats and Americans at large should listen to her because “I’m the boss” until politicians address climate change.

She made that remark during a Girls Who Code event in New York City.

“So people are like, ‘Oh it’s unrealistic. Oh it’s vague. Oh it doesn’t address this little minute thing,'” Ocasio-Cortez said as she characterized the criticism of her Green New Deal. “And I’m like, ‘You try. You do it. ‘Cause you’re not. ‘Cause you’re not. So, until you do it, I’m the boss.’ How about that?”

Iraq War veteran and political activist Leo Dunson told Ingraham on Monday night that Lee, in particular, is “part of the liberal elite” and was “able to stand up there in the front of the entire world and get multiple claps” for his antics and anti-Trump language “in front of a smug room of people who are all rich and famous.”

But attorney and legal analyst Monique Pressley argued that Lee “has had a 30-year career. He won an Oscar after those 30 years. He deserved it well before that. I think he gets to use his time [in] whatever way he wants to use his time.”

Ingraham countered that the U.S. is now dealing with “a generation that believes that if someone disagrees with you, they’re a bad person.”

The Heritage Foundation’s David Azerrad said Americans must emphasize unity, not identity. Unity, friendship, brotherhood and “the fact that we’re all Americans” are all worth celebrating, he argued.

“Don’t emphasize the divisiveness. Emphasize unity,” Azerrad said.

Pressley mostly agreed, saying, “So there doesn’t have to be the divisiveness.” She added, “We don’t have to embrace that in order to embrace the fact that there’s something good about me and the skin that I’m in” and more.

Check out more on this story in the video below: