- 23 Apr 2024 17:10
#15313143
"Five years later, Ms. Pelosi has stepped down from the leadership position she long held. The House progressive caucus has grown to nearly 100 members and has become a significant force within the party. The progressives have outlasted not only Ms. Pelosi, but also moderate Democrats who once led the party, like Representative Steny Hoyer, who has also bowed out of his role leading House Democrats. Representative Hakeem Jeffries of New York, the new minority leader, isn’t a member of the progressive caucus. (He left the caucus when he became leader of the House Democrats.) But he has been far friendlier to the group’s members and their agenda than his predecessor, Ms. Pelosi, a nod to the blossoming role of progressive politics within the Democratic Party and its voter base.
And in recent months, the insurgent group of unapologetic leftists has gained even more sway within the Democratic Party. Some of this is clearly a reaction to the extremism of Trumpism and far-right House Republicans. But the progressives have gained power in Washington amid rising anger over the U.S. role in Gaza.
For the first time in decades, possibly since the anti-Vietnam War and environmental movements, the left wing has led the center of the Democratic Party in a new political direction on a major issue — one sharply critical of the Israeli government, impatient with the leadership of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and increasingly willing to use American leverage to curb Israel’s military plans.
Before giving the speech on the House floor, she said, she carefully considered other factors as well, including rising antisemitic attacks and the history of genocide against Jewish communities. She also said she spoke with a close childhood friend who is a survivor of the 1994 Rwandan genocide.
“I said, you know, ‘What do you think would have been helpful?’” the congresswoman recalled. “And my friend told me that people need to see these folks as human. That’s why I chose to use the images and in my speech to discuss what famine means.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/23/opinion/progressives-democratic-party-aoc.html
And in recent months, the insurgent group of unapologetic leftists has gained even more sway within the Democratic Party. Some of this is clearly a reaction to the extremism of Trumpism and far-right House Republicans. But the progressives have gained power in Washington amid rising anger over the U.S. role in Gaza.
For the first time in decades, possibly since the anti-Vietnam War and environmental movements, the left wing has led the center of the Democratic Party in a new political direction on a major issue — one sharply critical of the Israeli government, impatient with the leadership of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and increasingly willing to use American leverage to curb Israel’s military plans.
Before giving the speech on the House floor, she said, she carefully considered other factors as well, including rising antisemitic attacks and the history of genocide against Jewish communities. She also said she spoke with a close childhood friend who is a survivor of the 1994 Rwandan genocide.
“I said, you know, ‘What do you think would have been helpful?’” the congresswoman recalled. “And my friend told me that people need to see these folks as human. That’s why I chose to use the images and in my speech to discuss what famine means.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/23/opinion/progressives-democratic-party-aoc.html
Facts have a well known liberal bias