Hakeem Jeffries saying, “This is bad y’all” is the same as police showing up to a shooting and playing Candy Crush on their phones. I want Hakeem Jeffries to pledge launching an investigation and using whatever power his party has, even if it ends in the president pardoning the people responsible. Just like I wanted the police to storm into the school and take down the shooter killing children. I want action being done.
I agree that it is good that Jeffries is speaking out in defense of Omar, but I would argue that the only reason he is defending his progressive colleague is because he’s been recieving a bunch of pressure to do so. It is very obvious why the leader of the party is not defending Omar; it’s because of the progressive ideals she espouses.
Leftists need to continue pressuring the Dems apparently for them to do the basics of their job. I see no reason why Jeffries would defend Omar without having experienced the pressure and criticism. He and the other Establishment Democrats in leadership positions have been actively sabotaging and holding back their progressive flank.
During the Uvalde shooting, did it not upset you that the police stood around doing nothing? Even as the minority party, the Democrats have some power they can exert. At the very least, they can make a big stink about the situation. When the Republicans inevitably obstruct them, the Dems can highlight how the Republicans are obstructing justice.
Instead, what we’ve seen the Democratic party do time and time again is just sit on their hands, defeated. Rolling over like dogs, unwilling to even appear to care. Hiding away and hoping nobody notices them standing off to the side.
Yes, obviously people are upset when the Republicans do something bad. They want the Republicans to be held to account. The people that should be holding them to account is the oppositional party and the Democrats aren’t doing that.
I dunno, I’m pretty tired of Establishment Democrats like Ken Martin not using their leadership positions to fight fascism. Maybe people will stop complaining about the same shit when the Dems stop doing the same shit.
Back when Bill de Blasio was mayor, he was also trying to regulate the NYPD. In response, they arrested and doxxed his daughter.
We don’t need AI to teach critical thinking. It doesn’t do anything better or in an innovative way, especially when accounting for the costs associated with AI. It is unnecessary to make a brand new round hole for this square peg.
I agree with you that the current leadership and most of the Democrats in power do not want to prosecute Epstein affiliates. However I would also note that even 6 months ago, Establishment Dems would not approve a message of going after Epstein affiliates. This ad is a movement from “Don’t talk about Epstein” to “Say Epstein was a bad guy”. Yes, this is a pretty minimal movement, but any movement towards the populist position is a sign of Establishment Democrats’ arrogance and entitlement being curtailed.
I view the Democratic Party like a disobedient dog in need of training. This dog has been behaving extremely poorly, pissing on the kitchen floor and refusing to come to heel. Lately though, through rigorous training, this dog has shown minimal improvement, at least considering potential punishments before enacting bad behavior. This improvement should be encouraged while the training continues.
Yes, I agree with you that the idea of punishing pedophiles is a very easy and uncontroversial position. The fact that Democrats have to even consider the population’s opinion is a progressive shift in strategy, when in the past, they have felt very comfortable simply ignoring their constiuents. The only thing that’s really changed is that Progressives are getting big wins and becoming more popular amongst the voter base. The Dem leadership is trying to stay in power by appealing to their left flank. This should be encouraged while the training continues.
This is Obama moving leftwards, not Abdul moving rightwards. Obama is getting on the Progressive bus, not the other way around. Abdul and the larger Progressive wing is still driving the bus.
Hopefully, the Establishment Dems continue being humble and stop fighting for control of the party. I doubt it though, so it’s important for the Progressives to keep pushing.
We saw with MAGA that Epstein is a motivating force for people to become politically active. Voters on both sides of the aisle want pedos to be prosecuted and voters on both sides became politically apathetic when no consequences materialized.
While it’s true that there are other levers that the Dems could be pulling, I’m just happy they are pulling a popular lever at all. To me, this signals a change in strategy from, “Advertise ourselves as Republican-lite” to, “Make some sort of delineation from Conservatives”.
The political consultants the Dem leadership listens to must be feeling the pressure from the Progressive wing; I’m hoping this means the party can be forced to move further left on other issues. Not too long ago, Epstein was on the list of things Dems wouldn’t talk about.
Maybe Third Way’s next bright idea will be, “The Left has some good ideas, actually”.
I want the ranking Dem member on every committee to conduct inquiries. Make a billion motions, cast votes, debate, whatever to result in some kind of legislative action. Hold formal proceedings, conduct investigations, subpoena people.
I want the Democrats to launch Benghazi style investigations like the Republicans did that helped tank Hillary Clinton’s presidential run. The only difference being that there is actual wrongdoing here.