Anti-Pelosi centrist Democrats signal surrender
From the very start, Palmer Report has been pointing out that the supposed “challenge from the left” to Nancy Pelosi’s bid for Speaker of the House was actually coming from her right. It was led by a pair of centrist House Democrats named Seth Moulton and Tim Ryan, who were trying to manufacture a “progressive” challenge to Pelosi. The trouble: no one was buying what they were selling. Now Moulton is signaling surrender.
Moulton and Ryan can’t simply run against Pelosi themselves (although Ryan has tried in years past), because they know the nation and the party are not in the mood for their centrism. So instead they cajoled a handful of naive incoming House Democrats into signing a letter which basically said they wanted anyone but Pelosi to be Speaker, for no particular reason, with no alternative candidates in mind.
But key far-left House Democrats like Pramila Jayapal saw it for what it was: an attempt at taking out Pelosi – a lifelong liberal from a liberal district – in order to shift the Democratic party to the right. Jayapal met with Pelosi and then endorsed her for Speaker, prompting MoveOn.org to do the same. Then came the questions about why Moulton and Ryan couldn’t even produce a candidate. They started pushing Marcia Fudge, in a blatant attempt at convincing the Congressional Black Caucus to turn against Pelosi. But after Fudge hashed things out with Pelosi, she ended up endorsing Pelosi as well.
Somewhere in there, Brian Higgins, who had originally signed the letter, backed down and endorsed Nancy Pelosi. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the incoming House Democrat seen as being further to the left than perhaps anyone else in the party, also endorsed Pelosi, calling out the Moulton-Ryan challenge for the centrist coup that it was.
Now it appears the string of defeats is enough to convince Seth Moulton to surrender. He’s now seeking to meet with Nancy Pelosi, ostensibly to work out his endorsement of her, in the hope of getting something out of it for himself. Pelosi doesn’t have to give him much, because she’s won – and perhaps she shouldn’t give him anything after what he just pulled. But as Pelosi keeps proving, she knows how to turn her Democratic foes into allies. Perhaps Moulton is finally ready to get with the program and begin working to help take down Donald Trump.
