A democratic quarrel in the House was approaching a crisis point. Then Trump is involved.



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Then President Donald Trump intervened.

Trump, in a series of Sunday morning messages, targeted progressive congressional women, asking them to "go back and help repair the totally devastated and crime-infested places from where they are." come. "

"These places are in great need of your help, you can not leave fast enough," tweeted the president. "I am sure Nancy Pelosi (President of the Chamber) would be very happy to be able to quickly develop free travel arrangements!"

Pelosi – who spent much of last week in a growing divide with New York's Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez representatives, Michigan's Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts – fought back less than two hours later , defending its members and calling Trump's comments "xenophobic".

"When @realDonaldTrump asks four US Congressional women to return to their country, he reaffirms that his project of" Giving Back the Glory to America "has always been to make America white again," tweeted Pelosi. "Our diversity is our strength and our unity is our power."

Pelosi herself made comments that appeared to anger Congress women – known on Capitol Hill – "The Squad" – and led one of them, Ocasio-Cortez, suggesting that the Democratic leader "chose women of color as members of Congress". The conflict has clouded the party's response to the US-Mexico border immigration crisis and fueled new anger among progressive activists.

The tension reaches its boiling point

Tension within the Democratic Party reached its peak on Friday night, after a day of bribes reported by congressional advisers. The official Twitter account of the House caucus has attacked one of Ocasio-Cortez's main aides after criticizing another member's vote in favor of a controversial bill on funding to the border, inviting his chief of staff, Saikat Chakrabarti, to keep the name of the representative Sharice Davids at a distance. "

The post has sounded the alarm in Philadelphia, where thousands of liberal activists and a handful of progressive lawmakers have gathered for the annual Netroots nationwide summit. The anxiety about the management of the situation at the border by the leadership of the party mingled with indignation over the aggressive – and unexpected – tweet, which initially left many people wondering if had been sent by a dishonest employee.

Tensions well beyond the corridors of Capitol Hill and the growing discord within the Democratic Party in the midst of a controversial presidential primary surfaced.

Why Nancy Pelosi and Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez do not hear?

The harsh criticism provoked by Chakrabarti's criticism after the vote on the border bill and the continued threat of major challenges for incumbent Democrat MPs revived the personalities. Justice Democrats, the group that supported the successful Ocasio-Cortez primary campaign in 2018, threatened to repeat the feat next year. This process has drawn greater visceral contempt from the offices of moderate legislators.

At the Philadelphia convention, activists were shocked by the message of House leaders and, in particular, by its timing. The tweet was launched at the end of a day when Vice President Mike Pence was filmed while visiting an overcrowded detention center in McAllen, Texas, and on the eve of the scheduled visit to New York. other Democrats of the House in the Rio Grande Valley.
They have lived so much: a nun at the center of the humanitarian crisis in the Rio Grande Valley makes migrants feel welcome

The future of the Democratic Party

Immigration and Customs Enforcement began Sunday to raid undocumented immigrants in major US cities.

"With the ice raids taking place this weekend, the death of children in border camps and the maintenance of a blank check for the racist expulsion device of the US. We will focus on the real crisis and urge Democratic leaders to do the same, "More than a dozen progressive groups, including Justice Democrats, Indivisible and She The People, said in a joint statement on Saturday. evening.

While presidential candidates, led by Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, were reacting against the border crisis management by the Trump administration during the forum, discussions inside and outside the United States. Outside the Pennsylvania Convention Center gave rise to what they saw as a missed opportunity to highlight detention centers' deprivation and fury at the apparent decision of leaders to end their struggle with progressive newcomers .

"If four voices are so insignificant, why even bring them together?", Said Saturday the founder of the Daily Kos, Markos Moulitsas, co-moderator of the presidential forum, in front of Pelosi's remarks in front of Maureen Dowd, of the New York Times. "We have a serious problem of participation among young voters and voters of color, so why would you take people who are probably the best tools to bring these voters to the polls next year, why would you start?" a quarrel with them? no sense. "

In his interview with Dowd, Pelosi bristles as a result of the reverse side of the border bill and, by minimizing their influence, has infuriated a progressive base that brings together representatives Ocsio-Cortez, Ayanna Pressley, Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar – the only differing votes in the caucus. – as the future of the party.

Dispute Between Pelosi and Democrats Group of the House Advocate for Unity

"All these people have their audience and their Twitter universe," Pelosi told The Times. "But they did not have followers – they are four and that's the number of votes they got."

Ocasio-Cortez responded on Twitter by listing a series of unflattering remarks by the speaker and the Progressive Left program. But Pelosi did not apologize for her comments this week at Capitol Hill, even as she had asked for unity during an in camera meeting with her caucus.

Asked Thursday about the exchanges between Ocasio-Cortez and Pelosi, Warren said during a trip to Wisconsin before his appearance on Netroots that the quarrels would strengthen the party.

"I think it's great that we have a lot of new voices in the Democratic Party, bringing new energy and excitement to people who have always felt excluded," Warren said. to journalists. "So I'm just happy to see a lot of people in. I know it's bumpy, but I'm happy to see people fighting."

At a roundtable in Philadelphia on Friday afternoon, Democratic Representative Pramila Jayapal, co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, cautiously rejected the president's remarks to the Times.

"I do not think these comments were helpful in getting a more comprehensive picture of how we build progressive power in the House and what it looks like in terms of global democratic power," Jayapal said.

But feelings among Netroots activists were more crude and their remarks less diplomatic, especially after the release of the official report of the party caucus in its Friday night dispatch.

"I have to find a new language because it is counterproductive that does not adequately express how ridiculous, non-strategic and wrong it was," said Working Families National Director Maurice Mitchell, adding that House Democrats "were squandering the powder on their own limbs" to focus as a laser on the white Christian identity movement that Trump went up to the White House. "

Yvette Simpson, executive director of Democracy for America and former Cincinnati city councilor, also told CNN that Democrats in the House should focus on Trump and overthrow the new generation of lawmakers.

"The idea that at the most critical moment for our party and for the country, the leadership of the party attacks the most energetic and the most daring of us and, frankly, to our present and our future, even scary, "Simpson said.

Focus on the border crisis

Earlier in the day, three of the four squad members shared a scene for a panel titled "Making Herstory: Women Who Tilt the Scale of Power in Washington". They avoided any direct mention of the storm around them, and Pressley seemed to consider it a distraction from their work.

"It's our job to create a space for these voices to be heard," she said. "And that's what guides me every day in this work – not the palace plot."

Warren's public debut on the presidential forum scene enlivened congress participants, who praised him before they could say a word. A long-time favorite of the Netroots crowd, dating back to before his first Senate sitting, Warren delivered the energetic message about the border crisis that many hoped to dominate the conversation throughout the weekend.

"Understand those who work in the system: you abuse immigrants, physically abusing immigrants, you sexually abuse immigrants, you do not get the medical care they need, you break the US law." America, "she said, before referring to her pledge, which she had made as part of her immigration proposal this week, to pursue these allegations if she were elected.

"Donald Trump may want to look away, but President Elizabeth Warren will not," she said. "On the first day, I'll empower a Justice Department commission to investigate crimes committed by the United States against immigrants."

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