Congress did have the ability to have a say in this, and chose not to.
It’s amazing how this conspiratorial spiel could have equally come out the mouth of a far left populist like Chunky Yoghurt or a far right populist like Pucker Carlson. The horshoe is just a circle nowadays.
It would be nice if someone explained AIPAC and maybe spelled out the acronym. All Congresspeople get money from sources I find unacceptable; it’s the system they’re embedded in.
Jeffries strikes me as one who doesn’t believe we are in an extraordinary situation. He is treating the Trump admin like the Bush (W) admin, and that alone is reason to get rid of him.
On the plus side, having his face in the news as Speaker might give Trump a stroke
Who would you support in his stead?
Barak Obama, just to make DJT stroke out.
I don’t have a mental list of all the options. I want someone who is above all a masterful communicator, as I see this as the Washington Democrats’ chief weakness. They need to get the message out about the positive things that they are doing, the negative things the Republicans are doing, and what it takes to get us back to functional. (A good leader can, of course, delegate the communication aspect.) I want someone who is at least as appalled at the incompetence and corruption as I am.
The only thing I know about Jeffries is what I’ve seen in the news and a couple of interviews I’ve seen, and he seems like a nice guy and a capable policitian for ordinary times, but not for leadership in extraordinary times.
Certainly he’s a better choice than either of my own Representatives (my address is switching districts in January, so I’m counting current & hopefully future).
Well … it’s sort like the being chased by a bear bit … who else is running? The progressives won’t have enough votes to elect one of their own. Will they start off a Democratic House majority as the GOP started theirs? Holding off support unless someone less to their dislike runs?
Does the House Speaker for our times exist? And if so can they win a vote of their peers?
(ETA that AI mentions Katherine Clark, the current whip, as a possible compromise choice if the Progressive wing plays hardball.)
I don’t think America can manage progressive leadership. It’s going to have to be a centrist. But in the current situation, though I am personally quite left-wing, I don’t think that matters. Simply not being a Republican will be enough, along with being a good and effective leader.
Worrying about Jeffreies becoming Speaker of the House is akin to worry over a dusty house when the kitchen is on fire. We are currently dealing with the most brazenly corrupt presidental administration in the history of our nation who has done and continues to do enormous damage to the United States. I tell you what, let’s steer away from the iceberg first and then we can worry about Jeffries.
Both houses of Congress have a majority leader and a minority leader. The House of Representatives has the Speaker of the House as the presiding officer. The Senate’s presiding officer is the vice-president of the United States; in his absence, the President Pro Temporare is he presiding officer.
Thats my view. People like Jeffries are not competent to lead while this nations deals with creeping authoritarianism, but him getting small amounts of money from supporters of the world’s only Jewish state should not disqualify him.
And that’s also the Right’s whole argument about virtually all of Europe, and Canada when it comes to social benefits: that they can provide them only because they’re getting a free ride from the USA on security and trade.
But, yeah, the caucus will have to decide if they will follow established precedent and reward Jeffries with the Speaker’s chair for having led them through the lean years, or if they’ll say “thanks a million, man, but y’know, right now we need a hard-punching fighter and that’s not you.”
My money is on that they will do the customary, which at least has the “first Black man” optics bonus.
I was unable to find an expansion on this link of the acronym for American Israel Public Affairs Committee, so I went to wiki.
I was mildly surprised that PAC did not mean “Political Action Committee”. Distinction without a difference.
Actually not although I didn’t know this until I just looked it up because you made me curious. Cut and paste from Google
Key Comparison
| Feature | Political Action Committee (PAC) | Public Affairs Committee / Office |
|---|---|---|
| Main Goal | Elect or defeat political candidates | Shape public policy, lobby, and manage issues/reputation |
| Direct Campaign Contributions | Yes (subject to strict statutory limits) | No (general advocacy and lobbying instead) |
| Primary Regulator | Federal Election Commission (FEC) | IRS / Congressional and State Lobbying Registries |
| Source of Funds | Voluntary contributions from specific individuals, members, or PAC donors | Corporate/association operating budgets, dues, or grants |
AIPAC was formed in 1954 as the American Zionist Committee for Public Affairs. Zionist was probably not great branding so they renamed themselves as AIPAC in 1959, keeping the P, A, and C words.
Political Action Committees were first allowed in 1944 as a way to get around laws prohibiting unions from contributing to candidates, but what we now think of as PACs developed long after AIPAC was AIPAC.
So why can’t we discuss whether Jeffries is the right person to do the steering?
That’s fine, but clutching pearls because of AIPAC doesn’t seem to me like a good faith discussion over whether Jeffries is the right person to do the steering. Especially when it starts out by accusing Jeffries of taking money from a foreign government. The OP even laments that we have an entire government dominated by AIPAC candidates at every level, and when I squint just a little bit, it sure looks a lot like a good old fashioned anti-Semetic “Jews run everything” conspiracy theory. If AIPAC truly does have its clutches embedded throughout the government, why single out Jeffries?
If I saw the OP on Reddit I would have assumed the author was just a Russian bot. If people want a repeat of 2024, sure, let’s rip into the Democrats. But I’d like to remind you of what the flight attendents tells us during the pre-flight safety. “In the even of cabin depressurization, an overhead oxygen mask will automatically drop down from the ceiling. Secure your own oxygen mask before helping anyone else, including children or individuals who require assistance.” i.e. If MAGA politicians are in power you can’t help the Palestinians. Help yourself before you try to help them.
Yep. It is both legal and ethical to take donations from them. They are NOT a “foreign government”. And Jeffries is not even in the top ten Congressmen to take their donations, so he is a weird target to pick out.
Good question.
Note that slightly more GOPs are on the list than Dems. Interesting list.
Sorry to be off topic:
hidden by staff
Not sure if this is jest of the Republicans. No one is forcing the United States citizens to “buy” any of our products. The trade deficient is not much of a deficit. If you take away energy/oil that the US is buying from Canada there is a surplus on the US side.