The House Democratic leadership is now campaigning openly against first-term Representatives Ayanna Pressley, Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. These women are already the subjects of daily death threats from Trump world. They have made climate change a campaign issue despite the best efforts of both Democrats and Republicans. They dragged public attention back to the concentration camps on the border after the press had moved on.
But Nancy Pelosi says they have no following. There is a concerted push to get Ocasio-Cortez to fire her outspoken chief of staff, which is a transparent effort to “break” her. And leaders of the Congressional Black Caucus are bizarrely claiming that Tlaib, Omar, Ocasio-Cortez, Pressley and their camp are “targeting” Black Representatives.
Let’s fact check that last one: Pressley and Omar are Black. Pressley and Ocasio-Cortez challenged and defeated white members of the House Democratic leadership. In my district an ally of theirs, Jamal Bowman, (a Black middle-school principal) is challenging Eliot Engel, a sixteen-term white Representative. A leader of the Black caucus, Representative Lacy Clay is being challenged in the upcoming primary, by Black Lives Matter activist Cori Bush.
Why the apparent distraction? Why fight one another instead of Donald Trump and the Republicans?
To career politicians, re-election is more important than anything. For election purposes Trump is a reliable foil for Democratic politicians; Omar, Ocasio-Cortez, Pressley, and Tlaib, though, are an existential threat. Trump allows Democrats to avoid stating any political positions of their own. All they have to do is point at him and yell: “We’re not as bad as he is!” Meanwhile - just like the Republicans - they continue to fund their campaigns with donations from the fossil-fuel, pharmaceutical, private prison, and finance industries. They are handcuffed by those donors, unable to make any changes that would benefit us for fear of cutting off their income stream.
Ocasio-Cortez, Pressley, Tlaib, and Omar have a different campaign finance model. They rely on small-dollar donations from regular people. They are free to take positions that would alienate corporate capitalists. They are also free to call for an end to the systematic legal bribery of our representatives that masquerades as “campaign contribution.”
Yesterday an anonymous Democratic leader told a reporter, “Nobody is afraid of those nerds.” This person was referring to Tlaib, Pressley, Omar, and Ocasio-Cortez. (The irony of saying “nobody is afraid” under the cloak of anonymity seems to have escaped him or her.) But the boast begs the question: Should they be?
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez did successfully challenge Joe Crowley, a ten-term incumbent and the chair of the Democratic caucus.
Ayanna Pressley did successfully challenge ten-term incumbent Mike Capuano.
Those are not achievements to be overlooked, and establishment Democrats will not be overlooking challengers this time around, regardless of what this anonymous leader said. It remains to be seen whether Jamal Bowman can upset Eliot Engel. (I am hopeful.) It remains to be seen whether attorney Jessica Cisneros can upset eight-term Texas Democrat Henry Cuellar.
That is all far from the number-one story this weekend because President Trump has promised massive ICE kidnappings all across the United States. He isn’t satisfied with the concentration camps he already runs: separating families, holding desperate refugees in inhuman conditions that were attested to yesterday by Vice President Mike Pence and Senator Lindsay Graham. No, he wants to arrest thousands of current US residents, too. This requires all our attention.
But:
We won’t get a humane immigration policy just by voting for Democrats instead of Republicans.
We won’t get fair pharmaceutical prices just by voting for Democrats instead of Republicans.
We won’t get rational health care just by voting for Democrats instead of Republicans.
We won’t get a program to respond to runaway climate change just by voting for Democrats instead of Republicans.
We certainly won’t end racial injustice or income inequality just by voting for Democrats instead of Republicans.
Tell me that the Republicans are worse and I will concede your point. But we are fighting for our children’s lives. Politicians who point at Orange Hitler and yell, “We’re not as bad as he is!” won’t save us. And if we don’t pay attention to elections up and down the ballot, replacing Orange Hitler won’t either.
