#FraudSquad Trends On Twitter After Progressives Vote For Nancy Pelosi As Speaker
Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California was narrowly reelected Sunday as Speaker of the House of Representatives. As HuffPost reporter Matt Fuller pointed out via Twitter, only five Democrats defected.
All progressives — including members of the so-called “squad” — voted for Pelosi, who is a centrist known for her decades-long opposition to left-wing legislation.
This, apparently, angered left-leaning voters, activists and pundits, who used the hashtag #FraudSquad to express their anger and disappointment.
Comedian Jimmy Dore responded to a tweet from Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, writing that progressives had leverage but simply gave their “vote away to the most unpopular politician in America without getting anything for your constituents in the process.”
In a follow-up tweet, Dore pointed out that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York justified her support for Pelosi by arguing that the Republican Party is plotting a “coup” to ensure that outgoing President Donald Trump wins a second consecutive term in the White House.
Dore dismissed the suggestion, comparing Ocasio-Cortez to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Reporter Kevin Gosztola concurred, noting in a tweet that Ocasio-Cortez justified her vote for Pelosi using the argument “Democratic Party establishment elites consistently promote” to maintain the status quo.
YouTuber and commentator Kyle Kulinski echoed Dore, tweeting that progressive lawmakers should have strategized to challenge and replace Pelosi, who is exceptionally unpopular, according to polls.
“I’m sorry but there’s no excuse for the left not to have organized in the last few years to mount a challenge to Pelosi. You know she’s hostile to you and your goals and she has a 28 percent approval rating, what the f*ck were you doing this entire time?”
“It’s time to look beyond DC if we truly want to effect left-wing change,” journalist Sameera Khan tweeted.
Former Democratic Party operative Peter Daou tweeted that he does not support the hashtag and suggested that there is no point in pushing progressive Democrats to advocate for a working class agenda because the American political system is “designed to absorb, neutralize, and crush opposition from the left.”
Democrats were projected to win seats in the lower chamber in the 2020 election, but their majority actually narrowed.
For weeks, left-wing activists have tried to put pressure on left-leaning members of the House to withhold their support for Pelosi, arguing that the situation created an opening for progressives to demand concessions in return for their votes.
Dore and others argued that Ocasio-Cortez and members of the progressive caucus should at least demand a floor vote on Medicare for All — the single-payer healthcare legislation popularized by Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont — in exchange for their votes.
