After spending much of President Donald Trump’s tenure in office arguing with — and often insulting — his supporters, actress Alyssa Milano offered an “olive branch” to Republicans on Twitter Tuesday night, urging those who disagree with her to move “#ForwardTogether” now that Joe Biden looks to be the next occupant of the White House.
“I’d like to extend an olive branch to Trump supporters. I am ready to move #ForwardTogether,” Milano tweeted.
“There’s so much work to do to heal the nation,” she added. “Let’s be a part of the solution and not add to the problems we face. My comments are open. Please reply with #ForwardTogether.”
The actress sealed the offer with a heart emoji.
For her part, she also pledged not to gloat about Biden’s victory, tweeting that America is “going to need a lot of humility and compassion right now. Anger and triumphalism is (sic) less helpful.”
The effort backfired, as conservatives, Republicans, and Trump supporters across social media savaged Milano for her sudden change of heart. After all, at one point, Milano accused the president’s supporters of being the next generation of the Ku Klux Klan, tweeting, in the wake of the Covington Catholic incident, which saw Nick Sandmann attacked for the simple act of wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat, that, “The red MAGA hat is the new white hood.”
Milano refused to apologize and, instead, penned an op-ed for The Wrap defending her decision to call Trump supporters racists.
Later, she ripped Republicans for their response to the coronavirus pandemic, accusing President Trump of knowing about the virus and deliberately failing to act. At one point, Milano suggested that “The entire @GOP should be tried for treason” and positioned the 2020 presidential election as a “debate” “about good vs. evil.”
In their responses Tuesday night, Trump supporters told her precisely how they felt about her “olive branch” and her call to “humility.”
“I remember you,” wrote one Twitter user. “You were the one glaring at Justice Brett Kavanaugh during his hearings. You were the one that called conservatives every name in the book and didn’t sensor your words in the least. No way you’d be offering an olive branch had your party lost … How about NO.”
Another suggested that Milano was using the peace offering as a way of rubbing in the likely result of the 2020 presidential election.
“This has to be another sick joke what has happened to you?” the user replied. “four years of the most insane sick tweets about our @POTUS and anyone who stands with him now you have been cured? we the normal and descent will ask just 1 question this time next year what has SLEEPY done for you?”
Others politely reminded her that she often referred to the president and his supporters as racists — and worse: “Moving forward implies you recognize & atone for the wrong you’ve done. It takes time to build back broken trust. Expecting everyone to say ‘oh let’s forget you called me a Nazi, let’s hang out’ is both hypocritical and immature. Sorry, you don’t get the moral high ground here.”
Milano didn’t get much support from fellow progressives, either, with more than a few, Fox News notes, chastising her for trying to “befriend the Nazis,” as one leftist put it.