This is a good one. Mr. Jeffries went on MS NOW and did not make a good showing. He was caught flat-footed. He was supposed to tell us good things. It seems he didn’t, or not very well. Maybe we do actually need a new speaker. It’s not something enjoyable to contemplate. Well, here’s what happened, and we’ll think about it. Respect to Raw Story:
An interview with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) got off to a ragged start on Thursday morning when MS NOW regular Katty Kay accused him of being ineffective. Brought on to promote an Iran war resolution vote to be held Thursday morning at the request of his office, Kay immediately charged ahead with, “It doesn’t have really very much chance of passing at all. So, is this just performative on your part?”
Oof. Got him right out of the gate. She is correct. If it’s not going to pass, it’s just a show. It’s pointless. So why should we waste our time with it? It’s not going to pass with just democratic votes. Does this thing even have any teeth? If it actually does, it’s a little late now. The ceasefire (that seems to be benefiting Iran more than anyone else) is already in place. And everyone knows that it’s almost impossible to stop Trump even if you’re a Republican.
“Well, good morning,“ the New York Democrat replied. “We’re going to make sure that we provide our Republican colleagues with every single opportunity to do the right thing on behalf of the American people, which means bringing an immediate end to Donald Trump’s reckless and costly failed war of choice against Iran.
So we’re going to proceed at 11:30 today through what’s called a pro forma session, and demand that the legislation that has been previously introduced by Representative Greg Meeks (D-NY) that would end the hostilities immediately in the Middle East in the absence, of course, of congressional authorization, which was never obtained.”
Okay, it *sounds* good, but again, does it have any teeth? It doesn’t look that way. It’s Democrats complaining about the war that won’t have any effect on the situation whatsoever. Demand that the legislation be passed to end the hostilities. It’s pointless. It really is. Pretty words with no force behind them.
“But the truth is, there really isn’t very much you can do, is there?” Kay shot back. “Because these resolutions are not passing; they’re not going to pass even if you introduce them every day, they’re not going to pass because you’re not going to get the Republican votes to have them passed. So what else?”
Appearing unsettled by the question, Jeffries complained, “I disagree with that. I disagree with that. We’ve seen repeatedly Democratic efforts in the House be successful. We successfully extended the Affordable Care Act tax credits. We successfully advanced [Jeffrey ] Epstein legislation in order to force transparency –– so far, the disclosure of 3 million documents. We’re working on the other 3 million. We’ve successfully passed legislation to overturn the Trump tariffs as it relates to Canada, and we’re going to successfully move a war powers resolution.”
Hmmmm. Maybe? These days it’s hard to tell. There’s a pretty thick wall between Republicans and Democrats. Yes, we all worked together for the Epstein Transparency Act and got it pushed through as a law. But otherwise, the divide has been pretty stark. It’s hard to know what to believe these days. We would *like* to believe him, but can we? Unknown. We need stronger leaders.
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I didn’t see the segment. When it comes to Morning Joe I’m an on again-off again viewer. Katty Kay (or anyone else) pressing Jeffries that way is a fair thing for a journalist/pundit to do. However I wouldn’t call it legislative performance art even though we sometimes charge the GOP with putting forward stuff that has no chance of passing, if only because of the filibuster in the Senate. The difference as I see it in what “will never pass” stuff gets put up for a vote.
GOP bullshit legislation that would fund ICE without forcing changes to what they’ve been doing for example. However a resolution to rein in Trump on this stupid, awful war is I believe worth it even if those pesky details of “teeth” are lacking. Just the symbolism of some Republicans going on the record with a rebuke of Trump would I believe do two things. First it would make him go batshit insane and at some point the private concerns of Republicans afraid to speak up will force their hand – either knock off the let Trump do whatever the hell he wants or lose their seat. (and the ones who survive get a shit sandwich on being in the minority again) The second, as I said might lead to actual substantive opposition and Congress reclaiming some of the power it’s been too willing to give away.
As I said I didn’t see the segment you wrote about so I don’t know if Jeffries was ‘deer in the headlights’ when challenged. I DO think he’s right to press this and Schumer should be doing the same over in the Senate. From where I sit Schumer’s milquetoast leadership has undercut Jeffries. Not standing up and using his own megaphone makes it a lot easier for people including pundits to ignore Jeffries.
I share your sentiments, Denis. Democrats must continue to press for legislation to fight Trump’s Project 25 vision of a fascist America, even if such legislation is doomed by unwavering Repugnican refusal to do anything to annoy their Fuhrer, Donald. It’s easy to become frustrated by the impotence of a minority in Congress and equally easy to blame failures on the leadership. The fault is the corruption, cowardice and complicity of the GOP in Trump’s dismantling of our democracy.
Ouch. Okay.
I stand corrected.
“Oof. Got him right out of the gate. She is correct. If it’s not going to pass, it’s just a show. It’s pointless. So why should we waste our time with it? It’s not going to pass with just democratic votes. Does this thing even have any teeth? If it actually does, it’s a little late now.”
FFS. Would people make up their ever-loving minds? Jeffries gets slammed for doing something even though he’s the MINORITY leader and cannot possibly get anything of ANY significance passed in the House without *some* GOP support. BUT, Jeffries gets slammed for NOT doing anything significant or substantive even though he’s just the MINORITY leader.
Pick a f*cking lane people and stick to it. Either credit Jeffries for TRYING to do something, even though it’s basically for show or leave the man alone.
Just like these morons who keep harping on “impeachment’ of practically everyone in the Drumpf administration. IT’S NEVER GOING TO HAPPEN. Even IF we regain control of the Senate, we will NOT get enough GOPers to actually remove ANY of the scumbuckets from their offices. We’ve got 45 Democratic Senators plus 2 Independents who caucus with the Dems. If we keep all 13 Dem seats up for grabs this year, we would need to not just win, but sweep TWENTY of the 22 GOP seats up for grabs to have enough votes to actually remove Drumpf or Vance or Rubio or Thomas or Alito or any of the rest of the Republiscum. But, we keep hearing a lot of progressives talking about impeaching the hell out of the administration as if it’s just a snap of the fingers away from being achieved.
And now, we have a “progressive” talking head attacking Jeffries over an action which, I’m sure even he realizes, is a pipe dream. But, again, if he did *nothing*, the woman would be criticizing him for THAT.
Good grief, I get it. Now I know why I stay away from writing about Congress except in very general terms.
Joseph, we have been over this before. I *know* we are in the minority. I *know* there’s not much we can do. And I know impeachment is another pipe dream. But nevertheless the idea *is* out there and people are looking at it.
I give up.