Ilhan Omar Says Progressives Are Trying To ‘Grab’ Power
On Saturday, at the Netroots Nation conference, Minnesota Representative Ilhan Omar said that progressives are trying to “grab” power, The Washington Examiner reports.
Omar made the remarks amid the escalating feud between left-wing House Democrats, led by New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and mainstream Democrats lead by Nancy Pelosi.
Along with Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, and Ayanna Pressley Omar is thought to belong in the former group.
“Every single person in Congress has a role. Our role is to take our votes and leadership’s role is to wrangle votes,” Omar explained, suggesting that progressives need to “grab” power.
“There’s a constant struggle oftentimes with people who have power about sharing that power. We are not really in the business of asking for the share of that power. We’re in the business of trying to grab that power.”
Without mentioning Pelosi by name, Pressley and Tlaib, who were also present at the conference, made similar remarks.
Refraining from weighing in on the tensions between mainstream Democrats and the left wing of the party, Pressley remarked that “the people closest to the pain should be the closest to the power.”
“You have to be unapologetically you,” Rashida Tlaib said.
As The Inquisitr reported, the dispute between party leadership and progressive lawmakers escalated following Pelosi’s decision to pass a Senate bill increasing funding for Trump’s immigration authorities.
The two fractions have since taken shots at each other, with Ocasio-Cortez’s squad slamming Pelosi for not attempting to negotiate amendments to the bill, and the speaker responding by dismissing the group in an interview with the New York Times.
The feud further escalated when left-leaning lawmakers accused Pelosi of singling out four women of color, which some interpreted as implicit accusations of racism.
Activists and various progressive groups have sided with left-leaning members of Pelosi’s caucus, criticizing top Democrats for focusing their attention on freshmen representatives while voting to give the Trump administration more money for its anti-immigration initiatives.
Four House women struggle as Pelosi isolates them https://t.co/rgDbU9ygWC
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) July 11, 2019
A slew of activist groups released a statement, defending progressives and calling on top Democrats to help “hold ICE and CBP accountable.”
According to a report from HuffPost, Pelosi has “emerged as an unexpected villain” at the Netroots Nation’s convention, with activists taking issue with the way the speaker has approached impeachment, and criticizing her reluctance to embrace progressive policies.
President Trump has injected himself into the conversation as well, defending Pelosi against perceived accusations of racism, according to The Hill.
Trump described the accusations against Pelosi as a “disgrace.”
