Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has not held her tongue regarding some Democrat leadership decisions.
Now, a former Pelosi aide is ripping House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), which has people asking once again, “Who is running the Democrat Party?”
When Senator Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) rallied support for the GOP to pass a procedural vote to block the filibuster (which would then allow the short-term funding bill to pass), Pelosi went nuts.
At the time, Pelosi stated, “I myself don’t give away anything for nothing.”
Schumer brushed off the criticism, stating, “What we got, at the end of the day, is avoiding the horror of a shutdown.
“There was no leverage point that we could’ve — we could’ve asked for things, they just would’ve said no.”
While Pelosi gave up the gavel and her title, she clearly did not give up her influence in the party, and little birds have told me that Pelosi has been getting in people’s ears on various issues, undermining House Minority Leader Jeffries (D-N.Y.).
For his part, Jeffries has tried to take the high road, saying that nothing like that is happening.
When he was directly asked about Pelosi undermining him within the caucus, he responded, “I think Speaker Emerita Pelosi has been incredibly respectful of the entire leadership team. It’s an honor to stand on the shoulders of Speaker Nancy Pelosi, an incredibly consequential public servant in the history of America.”
He later added, “House Democrats, we’re proud of the new leadership team. We’re looking forward to confronting the challenges we have to face on the behalf of the American people.”
Former Pelosi advisor Ashley Etienne is now taking a shot at Jeffries, which I believe is coming at the direction of Pelosi.
Etienne stated, "Trump is just giving us all this incredible red meat. I mean, I've never seen anything like this before. It's like the biggest gift any party has been given by the opposition, and we're just squandering it, to a degree.”
She later added, "He gave a speech this morning. I don't have any talking points in my phone about what he said. And I'm going to be doing TV and this interview all day. That's a failure. How do you get to discipline if you're not telling people what the hell you want them to say? At least emphatically, at least tonally."
Pelosi’s people would never speak out of turn without her blessing, and I would all but guarantee Etienne touched base with Pelosi for spouting off about this. Jeffries has yet to prove he is up for this leadership position, and my gut tells me that Pelosi wants to see him replaced before she retires. What better way to do that than to have the media put the pressure on him.
