When would be a convenient time for you? I’d like to pencil it in.
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But that’s what works about it. You don’t get just one bite at the apple. That’s a fallacy that seems to be spreading, probably by the alt-right/Breitbarters. You can impeach on one charge, and whether it proceeds to removal or not, you can impeach on another charge.
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Trump is one of the biggest obstacles to Nancy Pelosi’s power, probably second only to Mitch McConnell. Because of that, I think it is safe to assume that she would dearly love to see him gone. Probably more than anyone on this thread. Possibly more than anyone else in the country. She has just made a different calculation about the best way to do that than 95 other people in the House and some people here. Even if we disagree with her calculation, I think it is unreasonable to characterize her as a “problem”.
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It may seem unreasonable if one is over age 45, white, cisgender, not Muslim, and affluent – especially if one lives in a reliably blue state. It would be easy for someone like that – someone like me – to see things that way and have the luxury of saying “trust Pelosi, trust Biden, they know best”.
However, it’s less easy for me to do that when I’ve studied enough history to know where a country is headed when its chief executive has a rally crowd chanting “send her back” about a fellow citizen. And it’s also less easy when I spend enough time thinking about future scenarios involving things like global warming and increasing inequality to know that this could affect my life, too (younger liberals and progressives – the future of the party – know this because they’re already living it).
So yeah, the Dem establishment’s dithering, business-as-usual, approach is a problem to anyone who cares about preserving liberal democratic institutions when they’re under serious assault by fascists.
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I think this is a cynical misrepresentation of the House leadership. The fact that Pelosi isn’t immediately embracing every suggestion coming from the left flank of her party doesn’t mean she is dithering or make her a reactionary. She was, and is, a strong advocate for many progressive positions, and even this week amidst the media- and GOP-driven fantasy about divisions in the party Pelosi has taken strong stands against Trump.
The house was in GOP hands until this year (and for 19 of the previous 23 years), and the Senate remains in their hands. Pelosi might be cautious, but it isn’t for no reason. A legislator’s job involves finding ways to deal with determined opposition, and simply stomping your feet and yelling is a time-honored way to accomplish nothing.
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They’re just itching for the opportunity to pass the Enabling Act.
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Because they’ve been so aggressive in going after Il Douche. Please. Nadler and Schiff have been strong, but ultimately it’s Pelosi’s job to whip everyone into shape.
The GOP got a president impeached for lying about a BJ. It was bogus and no-one really cared about it, but the Republicans had the will to push it through.
What would happen if the House Dems were as determined to push through an impeachment proceeding about real crimes during the 2020 election season, even knowing McConnell would block action on it in the Senate? Heck, what would happen if they just announced that they intend to impeach?
I agree that she is, on social issues (as opposed to economic ones). Here, Nancy, have a cookie for being pro-choice and standing up for same-sex marriage!
People who understand the sense of urgency regarding getting the curent regime out of the White House are tired of words from leaders. This is a time for action.
Assuming that the determined opposition is dealing with her in good faith and will eventually see reason if she is cautious and polite is an equally time-honoured way to accomplish nothing (except, of course, appeasing fascists long enough to give them the time they need to to gather strength).
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The House leadership isn’t on the side of The Squad, that’s for sure. They have more in common with the old-line-conservative Republicans in Congress than they do with these young progressives. If Clinton had been elected in 2016 she’d have been working alongside Pelosi and the rest of the Dem establishment to undermine and vilify them.
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The GOP had an enormous advantage in the Senate in 1998, and while their house advantage was not so large their majority leader was an ideologue and major asshole. I for one don’t think Pelosi should seek to be a Democratic Newt Gingrich.
The House leadership isn’t on the side of The Squad, that’s for sure.
Pelosi has only disagreed with left-flank-icon AOC 3 times on 30 votes this session. I would describe this as on the same side but not 100% aligned.
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I don’t think it’s quite that bad, but as noted above there’s a parallel in another figure of the time, Neville Chamberlain.
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In terms of his determination to fight for his ideology – no matter how terrible and destructive it is – I think she should. Gingrich and Cruz and McConnell and Paul and the others who fight this way have all the charisma of molting snakes, and yet they get things done. The Dem establishment basically waits and hopes for Third Way candidates with rock-star appeal to push through their policies.
In fact, the Dems should have borrowed a lot of strategies and tactics from the GOP* a long time ago, but the best the establishment could do was presenting a watered-down version of neoliberalism with which to triangulate. It worked during the prosperous 90s, but it’s been played out since 2008.
[* no, not the various cheats – legit ones like dogcatcher-to-president leadership identification and development, not taking one voter for granted despite the duopoly, taking the Electoral College into accounts when campaigning, and fighting instead of hoping it’ll all work out.]
That reminds me, Pelosi is always quick to give the military-industrial complex and Homeland Security (including ICE) whatever funding they ask for. The vast majority of the other votes are on “have a cookie” issues.
That doesn’t change the fact that Pelosi has been dismissive of the progressive freshman Congresspeople in her own caucus, while giving the regime and its cronies in Congress the benefit of the doubt again and again.
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Gingrich embodies a kind of polarization that has infected our country and made politics simply nasty. I agree that Democratic leaders should fight for Democratic principles, but not with Gingrich’s mantle of hatred, and not in futile pursuits (as Gingrich’s was not, since they had the Senate).
That doesn’t change the fact that Pelosi has been dismissive of the progressive freshman Congresspeople in her own caucus
And also protective of them, to the extent of violating House rules to support them. That relationship is complicated, and the idea that there is a major and important split is a GOP talking point of the kind social media loves to exaggerate.
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And the Dems not fighting back against it at every opportunity only made it more nasty and polarised, because creeps like Gingrich take a mile for every inch ceded to them. You don’t win against a bully by assuming he’s dealing in good faith, and you don’t beat a hatemonger or criminal or hypocrite by downplaying the fact that he is one. [ETA: those are foolish indulgences for the privileged or those who think they won’t be affected]
That may be so, but I’m going to take the word of members of the Squad as to their treatment on balance by the Dem establishment over anyone else’s (I say this, by the way, as someone who thinks Omar’s comments on Israel were ill-considered and poorly phrased).
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I’m glad to see that Ocasio-Cortez is taking the high road here in trying to put forward a united Dem front against encroaching fascism despite differences within the caucus. As the rest of the article indicates, the same can’t be said for Pelosi.
In an interview this month with the New York Times, Pelosi said that the four “didn’t have any following,” citing their lonely votes in late June against a Democratic-crafted bill to address the southern border crisis. She has also made other remarks dismissing the group and their far-left proposals on the environment and health care.
In an interview earlier this month with The Washington Post, Ocasio-Cortez voiced frustration with Pelosi.
“When these comments first started, I kind of thought that she was keeping the progressive flank at more of an arm’s distance in order to protect more moderate members, which I understood,” Ocasio-Cortez said at the time. “But the persistent singling out . . . it got to a point where it was just outright disrespectful . . . the explicit singling out of newly elected women of color.”
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I fear Pelosi, like Chomsky, has mounted a philosophical high horse regarding our citizenry. Whether she has done so adroitly has yet to be seen, and the gamble is fucking terrifying.
To clarify - Pelosi, with her posturing, seems to be of the opinion that any impeachment attempt NOW will be lost down the memory hole of America’s voting citizenry long before the 2020 presidential election.
Unfortunately, and unlike Chomsky, Pelosi is Team Captain of the only political bloc capable of keeping our country from sliding into outright, capital F Fasciscm.
Her stubborn refusal to embrace and amplify the progressive rockstars we’ve recently been blessed with is not just political miscalculus, it’s a roll of the dice with the longevity of our republic at stake.
I disagree with her assessment that impeachment should be a political coup de grâce. Rather, Trump should face impeachment proceedings for each and every one of his many transgressions. At this point he could feasibly be impeached once per month all the way until November 2020.
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Pelosi’s actons yesterday suggest she is taking the same road.
Right-wing news outlets keep asserting that AOC et al are making unprovoked attacks on Pelosi. Their left-wing counterparts assert the attacks are going the other way. I prefer to ignore this media bullshit altogether.
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On the other hand, the majority of Americans LOVE a lot of leftwing policies and we still can’t get any passed. In no small part because Democrats appear weak and wishy-washy and people don’t trust them not to be corrupt, they only trust firebrands. I think Democrats spend too much time worrying about whether a particular tactic is inherently good or bad, and not enough time publicly talking about what kinds of moral battles are worth employing those weapons regardless of how little it takes to send your opposition into hypocritical histrionics. While Democrats have been worried about being acceptible to everyone and getting a 2/3 majority of the public in board for every decision based on unassailable facts, the right has dragged the country rightward on the fumes of a “moral” minority. It’s time to start dragging this country in the right direction even if there is significant kicking and screaming.
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My view has been more that both* play a role, both know what the role of the other is, and are actually working together. Some of these “fights” seem to be designed to draw attention to it.
For my part, I see Pelosi playing the role of a commander who is preparing for a siege, barking out orders to not break ranks and not waste ammunition. The squad are the scouts, out harassing the opposition, probing with hit and run tactics, not letting the other side rest.
*The “Squad” and the House leadership
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