JoJoFromJerz pulls no punches in popular social media feed about politics

JoJoFromJerz had a field day on Twitter as former President Donald Trump was booked in Georgia on charges that he attempted to overturn election results. In her biting and pithy style, the social media commentator fired off a series of digs aimed at the former president and his followers.

The fact that Trump is promoting his arrest time like it’s the finale of The Bachelor is both unbelievable and utterly unsurprising at the very same time.

Mr. “Never Surrender” sure has a thing for surrendering.

Fleecing the stupids, she wrote about mugshot-inspired fundraising.

Joanne Carducci — known online as JoJoFromJerz — says her pull-no-punches way of talking is inspired by her Jersey roots, where "we tell it like it is." The Lebanese American single mom — who describes herself as a hothead and news junkie — can be funny and sarcastic and sometimes profane.

In an interview, Carducci said her rise as a political commentator on social media was not planned. In 2016, she was a stay-at-home mother of two in Hackettstown and a Democrat in a Republican-leaning part of the state. After the presidential election, she looked online for a sounding board for her political opinions and frustrations. Turns out, people liked what she had to say, and her social media following took off.

"It's not some political pundit or expert, using a bunch of big words they don't understand," Carducci says. "It's a mom in New Jersey telling it like it is, and that, I guess, resonates with people, and it would resonate with me."

JoJoFromJerz opines on all kinds of political issues from a left-wing point of view, whether she is joking about Trump’s legal battles, blasting book bans or lamenting school shootings. Her style mirrors some of her right-wing media counterparts who use a no-filter approach that emphasizes directness over politeness.

The former school paraprofessional has turned political commentary into a full-time job, with profiles on Instagram, Patreon, Threads and Substack. She also has a podcast, "Are you F'ng Kidding Me? With JoJoFromJerz."

In an interview, Carducci talked about her rise as a social media commentator and about her home state.

Social media is full of people who like to comment about politics. Why do you think your profile has stood out in the pack?

Jerz is in my handle name; it's part of my identity. The one thing I love about being from New Jersey is that, anyone who is from New Jersey knows, we try to tell it like it is. We don't pull many punches and we don't really filter ourselves all that much. I think, honestly, what I've been told is I have a way of saying things that kind of cuts through all the noise and, you know, the weeds of the policy. I tell it like it is in my own voice, and people seem to find resonance with that.

I think that's what it is. I'm just myself. I don't have another version of me and I just tell it like it is in my own voice, and that happens to be kind of Jersey.

You use mockery as a tool, like with your southern MAGA character Becky Sue. Do you worry people will find it offensive?

I'm genuine. I am who I am. These are the things I say. I think I find it cathartic. Like my Becky Sue character is very cathartic for me because she is a parody of a very extreme version of MAGA. And I also think that it's important to find humor in all of this craziness, because, to be honest, we all know that the news can be overwhelming and often really depressing. So, if somehow I can spin something with just a little bit of edge, that snark and sarcasm, that might make somebody at least giggle while they're grappling with all of it.

I don't want to say I try not to be mean, because that's not necessarily true. I'll just say that I like to match much of the tone that MAGA puts out in the world toward others.

What did you tweet about when Trump’s mug shot was released?

You can sort of predict what their response is going to be. And so, I think a lot of us knew that the mug shot was going to be received as this "own of the libs" somehow and it's this epic, bad, tough-guy thing. The fact is he's raised nearly $10 million, if not more than that, all off that photograph. It's a booking photograph. He was arrested for crimes he allegedly committed, essentially against the American people. It's not at all surprising that they, you know, they're lifting it up as something to celebrate. You have to provide commentary on that, because it's jumped the shark 100 times over.

I can't even troll them better than they troll themselves, in this particular case, because they're raising $10 million off of a photograph of their guy being arrested. It's a mug shot. It's not a headshot, folks.

We really have to stop and take a minute and think this one is really crazy. This is a former president of the United States of America, and likely candidate for the office he allegedly tried to steal, being arrested in Georgia. And his mug shot is being celebrated by the people who want to see him return to the office he allegedly tried to steal ... This is our country, and it's become a punchline."

You are prolific in your social media and newsletter writing. What keeps you motivated?

I mean, it really does go back to my kids. Honestly, they are the driving force for everything that I do, from, you know, my advocacy work in terms of protecting democracy and pushing back against right-wing extremism, you know, pushing back against MAGA. All of this is propelled by my need to make sure that I do whatever I can in the time that I have to leave my kids a world better than I found it.

Editor's note: This Q&A is part of an occasional series of interviews with people who are experts, leaders and changemakers in New Jersey's diverse communities. It has been edited for brevity.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: JoJoFromJerz: How NJ mom became anti-MAGA influencer