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Chaya Raichik, a real estate agent from Brooklyn who spends much of her spare time operating the deranged LibsofTikTok account, has arguably made her name by railing against cancel culture. Now, in a move that could be read as either blatant hypocrisy or a ruthless act of revenge, Raichik and her Libs of TikTok cadre are attempting to cancel people who joked about Donald Trump’s recent assassination attempt.
As you might expect, Trump’s near miss on Saturday has inspired a lot of online discourse. Some of it is in good taste but a lot of it, predictably, is not. In short: Lots of people have been making jokes about the attempt on Trump’s life, which makes sense because social media mostly exists in the service of tasteless jokes. Raichik, however, has decided to take advantage of this particular moment to “own the libs” and squeal to their employers about their off-color remarks.
On her Substack, Raichik recently wrote: “Countless Unhinged Leftists have taken to social media to wish DEATH upon President Trump. They’re expressing how angry they are that the shooter missed his target.” Further down, she notes: “In fact, because of Libs of TikTok, TEN DERANGED LEFTISTS have already been FIRED from their jobs because we showed the world that they support murdering President Trump.”
Raichik seems to be telling the truth about her role in the cancellation of said “leftists.” Videos circulating online that originated with the Libs of TikTok account show someone confronting a woman at Home Depot. “You think that the shooter should’ve been a shooter, huh?” the person in the video asks the store staff member, who is alleged to have made a remark on Facebook about the shooter’s aim.
“I am at work,” the woman deflects before returning to her computer screen.
Hi @HomeDepot! Are you aware that you employ people who call for political vioIence and the ass*ss*nat*on of Presidents? Any comment? pic.twitter.com/L683dTcddB
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) July 14, 2024
On X, Libs of TikTok posted this video and proceeded to tag Home Depot. “Are you aware that you employ people who call for political violence and the ass*ss*nat*on of Presidents?” the account asked the home improvement store. Home Depot ultimately replied to the account’s thread: “@libsoftiktok Hi, this individual’s comments don’t reflect The Home Depot or our values. We can confirm she no longer works at The Home Depot.”
Right-wing activists have targeted large corporations in this fashion before, often attempting to cow them into denouncing progressive causes or firing executives for supporting them. Notably, the right-wing attack on Bud Light followed a much-maligned ad campaign featuring the transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney. It was viewed by conservatives as a culture war success—an effort to beat back the “woke” (read: LGBTQ) influence on corporate branding. Later, similar forces attacked Target for celebrating Pride month.
Of course, this sort of right-wing activism followed years of similar efforts by leftist actors, who targeted companies and random individuals for perceived transgressions related to racism, sexism, and homophobia. Those years, the most zany of which took place during the Trump administration, led to a spate of firings, expulsions, and blacklistings, many of which were arguably overreactions to a climate of heightened (and, at times, plainly hysterical) political rhetoric that circulated freely throughout the culture. These were the years when you could be fired for joking about “microaggressions,” for instance.
That said, all of this has little to do with Raichik, who is a nutcase and an opportunist, and whose primary modus operandi over the years has been to monetize the MAGA base’s rage. Her recent Substack post about “DERANGED LEFTISTS,” for example, appears to be a craven cash grab. The text is shot through with hyperlinks, all of which redirect to a donation portal that reads “EXPOSE ANTI-AMERICAN LEFTIST TERRORISTS,” where visitors can donate a comical amount of money—anywhere from $20 to $10,000.
Even Reason magazine, the conservative-libertarian rag, had the good sense to call out Raichik’s hypocrisy, accusing her, in a recent article, of “taking a page from the playbook she supposedly hates.” Billy Binion wrote: “Whatever your feelings on the former president, cheering on his assassination attempt is, in fact, wrong. It is also wrong to weaponize your millions of followers to turn a random woman into a national pariah, siccing a mob on her and rendering her unable to support herself—and possibly her family—because she made a tasteless comment on social media.” Amen, dude.
