Far-left Rep. Rashida Tlaib's planned response to President Joe Biden's State of the Union speech on Tuesday night is not going over well with some her fellow Democrats.
The episode is an illustration of a deep divide between moderate Democrats and the far-left progressive wing of the Democrat Party, best expressed by the so-called 'Squad.' And it is the last thing many Democrats know they need ahead of a midterm election that is expected to be ugly for Democrats.
Last week, I wrote about Tlaib's planned response on behalf of a left-wing party called the Working Families Party.
She's expected to trash moderate Democrats as "corporate Democrats" who are standing in the way of massive spending binges and major policy changes.
Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) did not mince words during an interview with Axios when he condemned Tlaib's actions, saying, “It’s like keying your own car and slashing your own tires."
Moderate Democrats like Gottheimer want the evening of Biden's first State of the Union speech to be his, so that he can list what he believes to be his accomplishments.
Gottheimer disagrees that the State of the Union is an appropriate time for Democrats to air their dirty family laundry. Gottheimer says,
“It’s massively counterproductive. This only highlights the real tension between the socialist far left and the common-sense moderate wing, which is focused on crime, costs, tax cuts and affordability, and turning the page on COVID.”
Once the darlings of the party, Democrats are waking up to the realization that the priorities of the Squad and the rest of the far left - like defunding the police, renaming schools that are named after Americans like George Washington and Abraham Lincoln based on modern day "woke" ideology, and the tearing down of historical statues - are not the priorities of average Americans.
Moderate Democrats know this will sting them big time in November.
It's the 'defund the police' movement that has moderate Democrats the most jittery. In February, Rep. Richie Torres (D-NY) declared to MSNBC that defund the police was "dead."
During the interview, Torres said that he agreed with New York Mayor Eric Adams that defunding police does not work.
“I agree with the Mayor. The defund police movement is dead in New York City and good riddance. And any elected official who is advocating for the abolition or even the defunding of police is out of touch with reality and should not be taken seriously.”
Last Spring, in the wake of the shooting of Daunte Wright in Minnesota, Tlaib again called for, "no more policing, incarceration, and militarization." However, House Majority Whip James Clyburn slapped back Tlaib's comments and said that the U.S. has "got to have police officers."
Rashida Tlaib almost appears to be sabotaging her own party. Not only by giving a progressive response to Biden's speech, but she is doing it on behalf of a far left group called the Working Families Party.
The Working Families party also supports defunding the police, and other far left agenda items like universal health and child care.
They are also endorsing other progressive candidates like Tlaib in races for Congress.
In addition to Tlaib's response, Joe Biden, who in his inaugural address said he wanted to heal a divided nation, Rep. Colin Allred (D-TX) will give a response on behalf of the Congressional Black Caucus.
No comments:
Post a Comment