Conservative actor James Woods took no prisoners this week in his long-awaited return to Twitter.
Returning unannounced to the platform after an April 2019 account suspension and a lengthy self-enforced hiatus, the known antagonist made up for lost time Thursday night with wisecracks and one-liners for seemingly every left-wing institution and political figure of note — beginning with upstart New York Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Attached to the actor’s first tweet in nearly 10 months was a viral video clip of Ocasio-Cortez, a post-graduate bartender-turned-U.S. representative, belittling the American notion of “lifting oneself up by the bootstraps” as unrealistic, if not mythical.
“I’ve tried so hard this past year to live without the wealth of knowledge available on Twitter,” Woods quipped, “but this kind of blazing insight can be found nowhere else, so … I’m back!”
I’ve tried so hard this past year to live without the wealth of knowledge available on Twitter, but this kind of blazing insight can be found nowhere else, so… I’m back! #AOCStillAMoron pic.twitter.com/kB0oDXmArB
— James Woods (@RealJamesWoods) February 7, 2020
I was on vacation awhile, avoiding the news. How’d the #Mueller thing work out? The #impeachment scam? Who won the #Iowa caucuses? Is #MichaelAvenatti still a contender for the Democratic nomination for President? How’s #JeffreyEpstein doing?
— James Woods (@RealJamesWoods) February 7, 2020
“I was on vacation awhile, avoiding the news,” Woods wrote shortly after. “How’d the #Mueller thing work out? The #impeachment scam? Who won the #Iowa caucuses? Is #MichaelAvenatti still a contender for the Democratic nomination for President? How’s #JeffreyEpstein doing?”
According to The Daily Wire, the 72-year-old actor ran into a spot of trouble with Twitter’s policy enforcement officials last spring, posting rather cryptically with regard to special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into President Donald Trump, “‘If you try to kill the King, you better not miss.’ #HangThemAll.”
The quote was paraphrased from American essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson’s classic line, “When you strike at a king, you must kill him” — an allusion to the potential consequences and backlash faced throughout history by those who seek to unseat those in power.
That did not, however, stop the social media giant from labeling the tweet as threatening, and indefinitely suspending Woods’ account for an alleged violation of site policy regarding “abusive behavior.”
Of course Twitter doesn’t inform his followers. @RealJamesWoods has received the following email: pic.twitter.com/2nnnVBVktQ
— Sara Miller (@Millerita) April 20, 2019