Don’t want to jinx anything here… but assuming that Democrats take the House in November, how effective a Speaker would Jefferies be? There will be a lot of work to do to block Trump, investigate his crimes, and prevent their reoccurrence in the future. And I don’t have a good feeling that he’s up to the task.
Why? What gives you that feeling?
He seems as much up to the job as most. He has worked hard under terrible conditions to keep the Democrats in Congress largely unified. Never an easy task.
Who do you think would be better? And why?
It feels like he’s done a good job as leader of the house Democrats, but has made no attempt to position himself as a leader of The Resistance Movement.
As much as anyone else has, I suppose. Which may be a problem for some.
I have a suspicion though, that many (most?) Congressional Democrats don’t really see this as a situation that needs a formal “Resistance” type movement. They’re just looking at it as the more or less normal ebb and flow of politics, with Trump himself being the outlier, not the entire GOP, and that it’ll be over with soon enough and the tides will shift in their direction like they always do.
This. He seems to me more like a typical congressional establishment Democrat. Someone like Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi, etc. He doesn’t remind me of the, as you put it “resistance movement” type Democrats like AOC (or Bernie Sanders, who would probably be a Democrat if more of them were like AOC and fewer like Chuck Schumer or Nancy Pelosi). The question comes down to do we need a leader of the resistance, or do we need a competent, solid, but establishment Speaker. Personally I think we need a leader of the resistance, but I think we’re likely to get the competent but establishment leader.
I find him lacking in charisma. He strikes me as a rond-de-cuir; someone who takes good notes at a meeting, counts the votes, and sends out the agenda ahead of the next meeting. Which, I grant you, is part of the job of house speaker. But he is not a leader.
I thought we were talking Speaker of the House, not President?
Who was the last really effective Speaker at getting their message to the people?
Probably Newt?
Congressman Jefferies just last year spoke for almost 9 hours to block a GOP bill.
He is a very solid speaker as shown by the last 6 minutes of the epic.
There was probably no Speaker more effective against Trump than Pelosi. She was successful because she understood her coalition, and she knew how to corral them to accomplish specific goals. She wasn’t a particularly inspirational public speaker, but she knew her noodles when it came to getting legislation shepherded through the process. Hakeem Jeffries was her chosen successor. He learned from the best.
Democrats are never going to have the advantage of cheating and/or working outside the law. They can’t, because if they do, they’ll be just as bad as Republicans. Unless and until there is a full on anarchistic revolution in this country, they must work within the system (feel free to get one started, but be careful what you wish for). That makes people who know how the system works particularly valuable. Jeffries is such a one.
I never hear any names offered other than AOC and Sanders. Neither is qualified for the job, in my opinion. Sanders has never promulgated any legislation of note, and AOC needs more experience.
There have not been many SoH with charisma, but despite her flaws, I liked Nancy’s spunk.
She was the one the Trump regime feared most. No doubt you remember how hard they worked to gin up the “she’s too old!” meme before she was reelected Speaker in 2019. Lots of Dems fell for that.
Right you are.
HJ strikes fear in no one. He’s a sleeping pill.
I doublechecked, Jefferies is only 56, I think that works in his favor.
Me, too.
if he can keep the Dems united (mostly), doesn’t that take leadership?
If there were more Democrats like AOC or Bernie there would be way fewer Democratic voters in this country.
Hakeem Jeffries has been doing a fantastic job, and I’m sure he will continue to do a fantastic job if he becomes Speaker.
Yep, Pelosi was a fantastic Speaker as well.
AOC definitely bears watching her idealism is quite refreshing. She needs a decade or two before she can come up with proposals where the numbers work.
He will be ineffective because of Trump ruling by decree.
Jeffries can try to get behind investigations of the Trump administration, holding press conferences saying that administration officials should be jailed for contempt when they fail to testify, and lie in their testimony. Some Democrats will be satisfied with this for a while, but what happens when the base realizes jail is not happening?
The story will of course be affected by what goes on in the Senate. If the Democrats get a workable Senate majority – probably means 52 seats – and get rid of the filibuster – Jefferies will be able to show that the Democrats passed a boatload of wonderful bills, all vetoed. To me, this will show him to have been totally ineffective. Will this be enough to please the base, convincing them that Jeffries is a fighter?
Do you think he’d look less, or more, ineffective if the GOP keeps the Senate, and so (a) nothing of the sort passes, kind of like you were just saying, but also (b) maybe Trump names someone to the Supreme Court?