Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez believes that the Democratic Party reign of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer should soon come to an end. But Ocasio-Cortez says there’s one big problem with this pie-in-the-sky proposal: The left is doing jack shit to prepare for it.
Ocasio-Cortez addressed these concerns and more in a new episode of The Intercept’s podcast “Intercepted with Jeremy Scahill” which aired Wednesday.
Following a series of House losses in the 2020 general election and a number of other flubs, the idea of Democratic leadership sans Pelosi feels increasingly viable, despite the fact that Pelosi is likely to maintain her role as Speaker. But Pelosi herself has suggested that the upcoming session of Congress may be her last regardless. So what follows? If progressives aren’t careful, potentially a Democratic leader with far worse instincts and political impulses than Pelosi.
“The hesitancy that I have is that I want to make sure that if we’re pointing people in a direction, that we have a plan. And my concern—and this I acknowledge as a failing, as something that we need to sort out—is that there isn’t a plan,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “If you create that vacuum, there are so many nefarious forces at play to fill that vacuum with something even worse.”
The Democratic Party is so wedded to seniority that the next generation of leadership hasn’t even been groomed for potential roles. Instead, a sea of aging politicians who lack imagination holds the helm, making it easier than ever to erroneously equate age with competency. This concerns Ocasio-Cortez as well. But it’s up to the left flank of the party to take charge and push, not simply sit back and bitch about it later.
Ocasio-Cortez had some smoke for President-elect Biden appointees as well. From The Intercept:
Asked about President-elect Joe Biden bringing in hawkish members of the Obama administration, as well as officials from companies like Goldman Sachs and McKinsey, Ocasio-Cortez said: “It’s horrible.”
“And I think it’s also part of a larger issue that we have right now, which is … the Biden administration is bringing back a lot of Obama appointees, which depending on where you are in the party, may sound nice, I guess,” she said. “But I think what a lot of people fail to remember is that we now have a Biden administration that’s bringing back a lot of Obama appointees, but when Obama was making appointments, he was bringing back a lot of Clinton appointees.”
[…]
This same cast of characters and their way of doing things, she added, is “a huge reason why we got Donald Trump in the first place. In addition to just the racism that was waiting to be reanimated in this country, [there] was just an extreme disdain for this moneyed political establishment that rules Washington.”
Cue outrage from this reasonable critique in three, two, one…
Secretary of State and full-time chud Mike Pompeo is reportedly quarantining after coming into contact with someone who tested positive for covid-19. Pompeo has thus far tested negative for the virus which has killed over 300,000 Americans, and it’s unclear where he contracted the ailment. But it’s not hard to believe this happened, considering the non-stop holiday parties occurring in and around the Trump White House of late.
One of those parties was literally held by Pompeo and his wife.
Yes, an indoor holiday bash at the State Department that boasted a 900 invitees. According to the Washington Post, only 70 people RSVP’d and even fewer actually bothered showing up.
Here’s what the Post reported on Tuesday (emphasis ours):
Only a tiny fraction of the more than 900 guests invited to an indoor holiday party hosted by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his wife Susan showed up on Tuesday following an outcry from public health officials and U.S. lawmakers warning that the reception bore all the hallmarks of a superspreader event, said two U.S. officials familiar with the event.
Pompeo, whose name was on the invitation and who was scheduled to speak at the event, canceled his speech and tapped a substitute speaker, said the two officials. The event was dedicated to the family members of diplomats serving overseas in dangerous postings that require them to leave their spouses and children behind, such as in Iraq or Afghanistan.
The State Department did not respond to questions about why Pompeo canceled the speech and whether it was due to his own health concerns about holding a large indoor event.
[…]
The event featured drinks, boxed meals and a masked Santa who walked around from table to table to chitchat with adults and children, according to the two officials and photographs taken during the event obtained by The Washington Post.
Now it’s Wednesday, and the man may have covid-19.
Please, the Trump era cannot end soon enough. Abject stupidity surrounding the pandemic will continue, but at least it may not continue to come from some of the most powerful idiots in the world.
- Oh, it looks like we might get checks from this damn stimulus package after all. [Washington Post]
- Biden has nominated Pete Buttigieg to be his Transportation Secretary, and Buttigieg wants all of us to know that O’Hare Airport in Chicago is a place of romance, not a labyrinthine hellhole that will definitely make you miss your connecting flight.
- Sen. Angus King thinks Netflix, HBO Max, and Disney need to stream shit for free over the holiday season to reduce the spread of covid-19. [The Hill]
- Trump will now get to enjoy the water pressure of his dreams. Congrats, asshole. [AP]