July 29-August 4: Times of Crisis

While O’Rourke spoke of many things on his social media this week, what stands out to
me the most for this week’s reflection is the way his social media reflected on horrendous actions
in El Paso, O’Rourke’s hometown, this Saturday. Before today, his social media posts this week
were like any other presidential candidate, mostly tweeting/posting about the 2nd Democratic
Debate, and usual O’Rourke strategies; pictures with the locals and veterans, nothing too
monumental, and mostly quite a bit of fluff. However, the macabre shooting in El Paso changed
the game. O’Rourke, whose platform already had a huge base built around where he came from,
became even more prominent as the fight for increased gun control related directly to his
hometown. Now, on O’Rourke’s Twitter feed, you will see a more personal cry for gun safety,
an issue that already was one of his top priorities, but now is established even more. For voters,
especially young ones, gun control is one of the most hot button issues (alongside climate
action), and this tragedy will definitely turn these voters eyes to O’Rourke’s social media page.
After hearing about the shooting, I did a quick Google search and the first thing I saw was a
direct link to O’Rourke’s Twitter thread about the event. While our search engines are
personalized, and I’m sure it’s aware that I’ve been checking on O’Rourke daily for the past few
weeks, it still shows an eye turned on to him, as voters watch what he will do next.