The House Democratic Caucus has formed a circular firing squad.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi chastised four freshmen — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley and Rashida Tlaib — for being publicly critical of an emergency border bill.
Now, Ocasio-Cortez is upping the rhetoric, playing the race card against her leader.
The Washington Post reports:
“When these comments first started, I kind of thought that she was keeping the progressive flank at more of an arm’s distance in order to protect more moderate members, which I understood,” Ocasio-Cortez told The Washington Post. “But the persistent singling out . . . it got to a point where it was just outright disrespectful . . . the explicit singling out of newly elected women of color.”
Earlier in the day, Pelosi held a closed-door meeting with House Democrats and they had it out.
Mrs. Pelosi had unusually tough words Wednesday for her caucus, telling them in a closed-door meeting to stop the infighting and work together to pass legislation. She stressed to members that their control of the chamber was fragile, pointing specifically to the moderate Democrats who unseated Republicans in the 2018 midterms, represent areas Mr. Trump carried or both. Most of those members, many of whom belong to the centrist Blue Dog or New Democrat coalitions, must win re-election in 2020 for House Democrats to keep their majority.
“You make me the target, but don’t make our Blue Dogs and our New Dems the target in all of this, because we have important fish to fry,” Mrs. Pelosi said, according to a person in the room.
In comments that those in the room saw as aimed at outspoken liberals in the caucus, the California Democrat added: “So, again, you got a complaint? You come and talk to me about it. But do not tweet about our members and expect us to think that that is just OK.”
In a Sunday interview, Pelosi dismissed the Mean Girls of the House as just a foursome.
All these people have their public whatever and their Twitter world,” Pelosi said, according to the Post.
“But they didn’t have any following,” she said of the border bill opposed by the far-left lawmakers. “They’re four people and that’s how many votes they got.”
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