MAGA did this. Never forget.
Rant alert…
Despite a massive, historic, I would even say miraculous win over MAGA last Tuesday all across America, the beltway and corporate media, (some say the “legacy” media), seem intent upon reviving their tried and true “Democrats in disarray!” narrative. They haven’t quite got there yet and we shouldn’t help them.
We should be cognizant that public intra-party infighting helps the media turn away from the shellacking that happened to MAGA on Tuesday. It’s off the topic of how the American people rejected MAGA anti-democratic policies when we take their bait and argue amongst ourselves on social media (where they troll for stories). We need to stop letting the media rob us of this time of celebration just because they want to stir up non-troversies.
I’m talking about the beltway press can being seen shoving microphones in the faces of every Democrat in congress new and old, and asking if they support Jakeem Jeffries for speaker (who is running unopposed!). Why no reporters holding up microphones to MAGA members of congress who lost and asking them what they are going to do for a job next year?
Or how do they feel about losing so badly?
Are they lawyering up?
Are they worried about serving jail time?
Do they have any regrets?
What did they learn from the voters?
Will they be issuing an apology to America for everything they’ve done including the insurrection on the capitol?
If they are not sorry, why should we forgive them?
If they are sorry and apologize, how do they plan to make amends?
Because Liz Cheney told us they all knew about it, all the house members knew and even invited constituents to come to DC to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
Republicans picked Jim (Gym) Jordan to be their new leader. That’s how serious Republicans are about owning up to their wrong doing. Jim Jordan, everyone. I’m not seeing reporters following Republicans around inquiring about their support for Jim Jordan.
I did see one reporter put a microphone in Mike Johnson’s face and ask a question about the Republican loss to which Johnson replied, “I’m disappointed the voters got it wrong.” That’s MAGA for you.
We can have internal discussions about the direction of the Democratic party, leadership, etc., but we shouldn’t automatically fall for the media bait and just hand them negative story lines. It has only been since Trump that all of a sudden the grassroots think it is our job to weigh in on who the House and Senate members elect to be their leader. Micro-managing congress about who they support for leader didn’t used to be much of a thing until lately. It would have been called in modern vernacular, “not staying in our lane,” before Trump and MAGA drove us all mad. Now we’re all traumatized and over-reacting to everything.
That said, it seems like our side needs to have more information on the topic of the electing of leaders process in congress. AOC, using a white board, does a great job of explaining how things work in the House of Representatives, even if she has to write backwards because she hasn’t done a livestream for awhile.
If you watch, you will hear her say a few times to viewers, “Don’t get mad, I’m just telling you how things work.” AOC starts off by saying the leader’s job is three-fold – legislative, political, organizing a whip operation, and fund raising. The leader’s job is to know how every member in the Democratic caucus is going to vote on any given bill, so they know if they have the votes before bringing it to the floor (something Nancy Pelosi excelled at). Getting votes when the caucus doesn’t yet have them for a bill that Democrats want to pass is another part of the whip operation.
The leader’s job is also to protect the majority for re-election, with input from the members on strategy, because Ds are a broad coalition of progressives Democrats, conservative Democrats, center Democrats. She points out progressives have fewer members, so there’s that.
A big part of protecting the majority is fundraising. AOC impressed upon viewers that even though she herself is a successful fundraiser, there is no comparison as far as how much money the leaders of the party have to raise and how much money Schumer and Jeffries were able to raise. Until we change the system, big piles of cash are required to win elections.
Who would even want to do this job? As it turns out, no one. About this time she points out that in fact nobody wants the speaker job. Saying it without saying it, I understood her to mean: It’s a dirty job, but somebody has to do it.
We worked hard to defeat MAGA. As of this writing Scott Colom is about to give his victory speech. He will be the first Black senator from Mississippi in 140 years. That is something to celebrate.
