This doesn't provide any more evidence for AOC having called for punishing opposition supporters, does it? Tapper doesn't appear to be directing employers to d

This doesn't provide any more evidence for AOC having called for punishing opposition supporters, does it? Tapper doesn't appear to be directing employers to do anything here: he's stating how employers judge candidates, and noting how considering one's actions in that frame might cause one to act differently. There's not a threat here, it's an acknowledgement of how society works. My point is that these aren't reasonable interpretations of what these figures have said. Like I said, it's certainly possible to read into their words as much as you want, but it requires far fewer assumptions about the unknowable mental states of others to simply take their words at face value. Divorced of the spin placed onto what's been said by the press, these statements are entirely innocuous.