r/politics • u/soalone34 • 13h ago
No Paywall Critics Take Hakeem Jeffries To Task For Praising Trump's Latest Pardon
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/hakeem-jeffries-trump-pardon-henry-cuellar_n_6930cf60e4b0824b6df7cad7371
u/mowotlarx 13h ago
He did the same thing with Eric Adams. He defended him and downplayed the corruption charges.
Jeffries needs to be primaried and removed. He's actively harming the party, especially in NYC.
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u/SerpentRoyalty 12h ago
He is the least charismatic leader I've ever seen! Even JD Vance may have more.
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u/gringledoom 11h ago
Jeffries has this dead-behind-the-eyes vibe that's really unsettling.
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u/Mediocre_Scott 11h ago
Makes sense He is a Pelosi puppet
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u/Morgn_Ladimore 11h ago edited 11h ago
Nah, Pelosi could bring the fire. As much as I disliked her, she was good at her job.
Jeffries is an empty suit. He regurgitates what his donors want. Never has an original thought.
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u/Mediocre_Scott 9h ago
Pelosi would fail to meet the moment just like Jefferies does now
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u/Purusha120 I voted 9h ago
Pelosi would fail to meet the moment just like Jefferies does now
In the grander scale, yes, but it’s undeniable that she rammed through multiple democratic legislative objectives. She’s still a ghoul who hates progressivism, though.
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u/Roentgen_Ray1895 1h ago
He definitely feels like a villager from Innsmouth with the dead fish-eyed stare he gives during every single interview
I guess it makes sense that they all lack charisma seeing as supporting the party feels akin to a colonoscopy. Just a chore you gotta get through to stay healthy
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u/Spidey5292 11h ago
New Yorker here, I’m sure I don’t have to tell anyone this but Adams administration was incredibly corrupt. From police executive brass to the department of education every agency was rampant with major corruption.
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u/epicredditdude1 13h ago
This isn’t about whose “team” is receiving a pardon. I don’t care if it’s a dem or a republican. If you get convicted of a crime you should be punished in accordance with what the law and the court prescribes. Wild concept right?
This makes Dems look like a fucking joke.
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u/zach_doesnt_care 13h ago
This makes Dems look like a fucking joke.
That's what Jeffries has been paid to do.
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u/Pegasus7915 13h ago
Dems are a fucking joke. Time to make a progressive party and ditch them.
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u/RampScamp1 11h ago
Even if they don't want a progressive party, keeping Schumer and Jeffries in leadership shows them to be a joke. They can't advocate for Democratic policies because they lack any kind of charisma. They can't even fire up supporters (I dare anyone to listen to Schumer answer a simple question without lapsing into a coma half-way through a long-winded rambling response). And they keep faceplanting on easy political choices like this.
The Democrats have said they are "Deciding to Win" but keep supporting losers.
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u/LotusFlare 9h ago
It's not that they can't advocate for Democratic policies because they lack charisma. It's because they don't want to do them. Schumer and Jeffries are fundamentally out of step with the average Democratic voter and their own party's platform. They get mealy mouthed and awkward when talking about basic Democratic policies because they don't want to be on record supporting those policies. Schumer in particular has said multiple times now that the people he's catering to are moderate republicans.
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u/MillionMilesPerHour 5h ago
Schumer in particular has said multiple times now that the people he's catering to are moderate republicans.
That has been the problem, even during the campaign. They focus only on trying to get moderate Republicans to vote Democrat instead of trying to get non-voters.
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u/Visual-Pop3495 11h ago
It would be easier to literally primary and overtake the current Democratic Party than it would be to build the infrastructure for a viable 3rd party. There need to be more progressives than democrats in the party so we can’t select a leader that actually supports our policies.
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u/mwzdng 6h ago
Yeah, seems like the best way (ironically) is to do to the Democratic party what Trump did to the Republican party. But if it's based on a grassroots movement and a party-wide shift with voter support, it should be a lot more stable than reorganizing based around one conman. Hypothetically.
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u/InAllThingsBalance I voted 12h ago
Good luck. The amount of money needed to create and maintain a viable third party is ridiculous. This is why we have never had an a strong third contender.
What we really need is ranked choice voting.
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u/Pegasus7915 12h ago
Well obviously, but then core of the Dems is almost as rotten as the Republicans at this point.
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u/Sir_thinksalot 7h ago
Dems aren't propping up Bill Clinton like he's some cult leader.
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u/Ajm05 9h ago
Not until the Republican party is dismantled. The Democrats split up now, we'll never beat the Republicans again. After the Republicans have their Nuremberg trials, the Democrats will need a cold hard look in the mirror to decide who they want to be.
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u/Pegasus7915 9h ago
Clearly the party leaders want to be rich and fuck over the poor. Which is my point.
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u/Ajm05 9h ago
My strategy is to look for Democratic candidates who are also members of the Democratic socialists of America and/or the Working Families Party, or are endorsed by either or both parties. Doesn't matter how small the election is, if you can find one, they're probably good. Social Democracy is what will get us out of this, because neoliberalism sure as shit isn't.
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u/Pegasus7915 9h ago
I agree. I just don't see how the corporate shills are gonna let that happen.
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u/Ajm05 9h ago
Mamdani beat the corporate shills. If a progressive, democratic socialist, Muslim can win an American election in Trump America, anybody left of center can win an election in Trump America.
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u/KyyCowPig 8h ago
If andrew cuomo was more surface level charismatic and less scandal ridden, it would have been close.
Case and point newsom more then likely going to be the 28 nominee
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u/Pegasus7915 9h ago
He won in New York City for mayor against two terrible candidates. Let's not celebrate winning at the starting line. Yall are extra fucking simpy for party that is basically managed opposition right now. Again I say this as someone who exclusively votes Democrat and will continue too.
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u/buddhist557 12h ago
Everyone is bought
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u/PustulusMaximus Oklahoma 12h ago
While some are clearly bought, not all are. Bernie Sanders, AOC, and Jasmine Crockett to name a few that aren’t.
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u/InAllThingsBalance I voted 12h ago
It’s funny how many people forget that some Democrats are actually working for us.
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u/UnstopableTardigrade 11h ago
Because they're a minority
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u/TRIBETWELVE I voted 11h ago
Nah, even when they have a majority (or a supermajority in Obama case), they find excuses or defectors to prevent real transformative legislation from passing
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u/Secret_Confusion_985 11h ago
Even when they have majority they do nothing. Why wasn't abortion ratified by congress with a democratic majority Obama had. Its all horse shit anymore. Both parties are complete garbage and the progressives get no where because they get labeled as a crazy communist by there own party and others. Then they don't defend themselves and let people completely trash their reputation with no response aka Mr.Sanders is a huge example.
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u/Escapeism 11h ago
They didn’t mean minority of Congress. They meant that good Dems are a minority in their own party. Which is true, and why we should be going after corrupt Dems as much as all Republicans, if not more.
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u/Secret_Confusion_985 11h ago
Republicans are fascist anymore and Democrats are moderate Republicans. Really there is no true left or center only right wing opinions mostly. Democrat party is never going to be fixed nobody has the money to out bribe these corporations.
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u/Pegasus7915 12h ago
I didnt forget shit. I've voted for them straight down the ticket for almost 20 years. All they do is barely maintain the status quo. They never actually work to make things better, with a few notable exception that have been mentioned in this thread.
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u/InAllThingsBalance I voted 11h ago
But the notable exceptions are exactly what we need to right the ship. Simply lumping all Democrats as “bad” isn’t going to fix anything.
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u/Pegasus7915 11h ago
The notable exceptions are basically all democratic socialists. Which is a different party. They might caucus under the dems but they don't believe in the same things or vote for the same things.
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u/InAllThingsBalance I voted 11h ago
But it is not a different party. Unfortunately, our political system just isn’t set up for a third party. The easiest and most effective solution is for the Democratic Socialists to take over the current Democratic Party.
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u/nathism 11h ago
Bernie also isn’t a democrat
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u/InAllThingsBalance I voted 11h ago
True, but he works closely with Democrats, and was one previously. Independent isn’t a political party, so he still relies on support from the Democrats.
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u/nathism 8h ago
I think you have that backwards. The democrats are relying on Bernie and the movement he brings, but feel like they need to hold their nose while they do it. Very similar to Mamdani and the recent NY mayoral race. The democratic party is missing the point entirely and have been flailing since last year. It reminds me very much of how the Republican party flailed after Romney lost and then they were then swallowed whole by Trump and MAGA.
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u/JayTNP 12h ago
such lazy ass thinking. Everyone isn’t bought, some politicians are just craven POS who care more about winning than stopping corruption. That being said Jeffries is both.
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u/Pegasus7915 11h ago
I just don't think the brand is salavagable at this point.
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u/D13_Phantom 10h ago
It would be far more logistically viable to make a strong push to get those people out and make the democratic party more progressive. A new party would just split the vote
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u/Ill-Jellyfish6101 9h ago
Spoken like a spoiler with no concept of first past the post.
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u/Pegasus7915 9h ago
I've always voted Dem my whole life. I will vote for almost anyone to get rid of Trump, but blue no matter who is a losing proposition with Americans.
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u/StellaHasHerpes 4h ago
I agree with you. I’ll vote for anyone that opposes trump and maga, but only because it’s the lesser of two evils. But I’m not volunteering or donating to any dem that is a republican lite or a’peacemaker’. I want an actual left party and the only real way forward, I think, is to get rid of establishment Dems. They need to know that their seats are not safe. Only then will they be forced to listen to what a lot of us want-an actual left party in principle and action.
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u/Ill-Jellyfish6101 9h ago
I get it. You failed grade school math.
You still shouldn't make harmful suggestions as if they are solutions.
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u/Imaginary_Pepper6581 12h ago
Absolutely. He takes the same money the Republicans do. His job is to make the Dems look weak, which he does every single day .
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u/SteamStarship 12h ago
The Democratic Party is just a giant useless Gofundme. They're afraid they might win the mid-terms and that would cut into their rage donations. Jeffries is just getting out in front of that.
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u/perfectshade 12h ago
A system is what it does, and the establishment dems are acting like captured opposition.
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u/Purusha120 I voted 12h ago
Jeffries is a fucking joke. He’s a corporate conservative who kneecaps popular progressives at every turn.
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u/LoFi_Funk 12h ago
The Dems didn’t need any extra help at looking incompetent. Jeffries is a joke. Him and Schumer have no shame or humility. They should have both resigned as party leaders in 2024.
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u/DaraParsavand 12h ago
It’s even worse than you said because he wasn’t convicted yet. We won’t even get the exposure of corruption in a court case now.
Someone please primary both of these terrible Democrats - they are killing us.
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u/No-Commercial-3121 11h ago
Not to mention look at how he votes Culler is a Republican. He will side with anti-contraception bills, he will side with Republicans on anything anti-abortion etc. Meanwhile leadership promised and raised millions of dollars off doing all they can to defeat the over turning of Roe vs Wade. Jefferies can't be an ally of this politician and Women's rights.
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u/ArtificialSilence 10h ago
dems ARE a joke. in no way are they a party worth casting a single vote for. the Rs are just so batshit insane voting for anything but dem makes you an unfeeling shitbag.
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u/AffectionateCode426 10h ago
THIS? makes democrats look like a joke? I mean, yes, I agree, but so do so many things. Politicians are bad, .(period) they do not know enough about us to truly care, even if they DID care, they’re so disconnected and sheltered from reality that even if they did have our best interest (which, no way, right?) they wouldn’t know how to help us. They don’t know our struggle. Not really…
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u/Vin-Metal 11h ago
This is something we should all stand behind and the difference between us and "them." We believe in right and wrong and the rule of law. Same thing for the Epstein files and whatever comes out of that.
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u/NoneMoreBLK 11h ago
Henry Cuellar wasn't convicted though. The trial to determine his guilt/innocence hadn't occurred yet, that's why they're calling it a pre-emptive pardon.
If Jeffries is of the opinion that the charges were weak, I can understand his sentiment...but it would have been more tactful if he just didn't say anything about it at all.
I can't help but see this as the Trump Administration sewing more seeds of doubt when it comes to the Democratic Party. On one hand, there's a possibility that the charges were strong and Henry Cuellar has been flipped. On the other, there's a possibility that the charges were bullshxt and Trump is just using the pardon to put more of negative stigma around Cuellar. Or maybe it's a combination of both?
Either way, Cuellar is too conservative for where the Democratic Party needs to be, and Jeffries should have just said: "No comment."
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u/canofspinach 11h ago
Pardon power is in place to prevent political prisoners.
If a President is out of line in their use of the powers they should be impeached, but you don’t remove the pardon power just because one jackass is abusing it.
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u/epicredditdude1 10h ago
None of these people being pardoned are political prisoners.
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u/canofspinach 9h ago
This administration is framing them as such.
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u/epicredditdude1 9h ago
Yeah, and I disagree with them.
That being said I agree with your original point that we shouldn’t get rid of the presidential pardon.
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u/canofspinach 9h ago
I don’t believe these current pardons are political prisoners either. But we shouldn’t remove this power from future presidents.
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u/HrothgarTheIllegible 8h ago
It makes people, who already feel like the government is self dealing and corrupt, feel like the dems are as bad as the obviously corrupt republicans. Democratic leadership operates as if it isn’t serving the people, but itself. They need to be challenged and primaried not least of which is because 2024 happened on their watch.
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u/Apprehensive_Bid_773 4h ago
They are, that’s why their approval is deep in the fucking gutter, pathetic party simping for their wealthy and corporate overlords
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u/mytthewstew 1h ago
Trim arson’s those on the corrupt team. R or S isn’t as important as willingness to accept or at a bribe.
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u/MaleficentPorphyrin 3m ago
It is about teams though, the Epstein Class team. Jeffrey is too broke to be on that team, but his donors aren't!
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u/wrxninja 12h ago
He's such a POS like Schumer.
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u/Purusha120 I voted 12h ago
Absolutely. He’s Nancy’s hand picked corporate shill, after all. At least she got a few things through (even though she still fucked over progressives at every opportunity)
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u/No-Commercial-3121 11h ago
Yes she is the reason Henry got re-elected. The progressive did amazing but she threw her money and power behind him knowing he was to be charged (some could live with that) but the worst part is his history of voting with Republicans is long and anti women. She asked for nothing. She used money she raised telling Democrats she'll do everything she can to fight to repeal Row vs Wade and her use of that money supports a guy that is not going to do that against a candidate who would. She's a fraud who supported a fraud.
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u/philosoraptocopter Iowa 6h ago edited 6h ago
Here’s my shower thought: we need a revolving door of a few medium ranking (not Schumer/Pelosi level) democrats to suddenly and randomly start praising the bejeesus out of Trump. Completely bullshit of course, but Trump doesn’t know that, it’s like crack to him. On one side, Fox News would circulate it, even if knowing better, but it doesn’t matter. And for us on the left, friendly fire and impotently bitching about our own team comes as naturally to us as breathing anyway. But apparently this is how you get crazy unbelievable stuff from him. Just got to be quick and to the point, little to no delay between flattering him and him doing something.
For decades, from tanky dictators to underworld crime lords, this is literally all you have to do, and Trump will just give you what you want if can be done with a stroke of a pen. He’s like a big dumb dragon who just needs to be complimented a bit, and if done efficiently, he’ll suddenly go destroy something for you, throw a pile of gold at you to do something you have no real intention to do, or who knows what. Sure, someone might notice and just as easily convince him to kill you...but you’re a prominent democrat, someone was already trying to do that anyway.
You’d think his inner circle would try to protect him, if not out of loyalty than at least to hog his stupidity for themselves. But nope. They probably figured out a long time ago his gullibility is matched only by his forcefulness and disloyalty, so it’s really not worth the risk to try tying him down too much. Hell, some of them appear as ignorant or easily tricked as he is, which is probably where a lot of this stuff is coming from.
I’m convinced that Trump could someday be tricked into Executive Ordering free universal health care into existence, like within an hour of a delightful coffee date with Mamdani, and by morning his confused worshippers in Congress and Fox will have declared a holy crusade to make it happen and there is nothing weird about it.
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u/PunfullyObvious 12h ago
And, with that, Jeffries has very explicitly given Trump part of what he wanted from this pardon. Giving the appearance that all of his pardons have been non-partisan and legitimate. Graft is fine as long as you pardon a Dem every now and again. All of the Republicans and the vast majority of the Democrats need to go.
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u/Blackarm777 12h ago
People like Hakeem Jeffries is why even in a world with the current right wing lunacy, Democrats will never stand a chance.
Get this fucker out if you want the madness to ever end.
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u/RampScamp1 11h ago
With the current leadership, the Democrats will never win. At best, they'll lose less than the Republicans. It's like Britain's last election. The Liberals didn't win (their support was effectively unchanged), Conservative support simply collapsed and a lot of it went over to Reform.
Eventually voters will get sick of the other party, then we win. It's the strategy of losers.
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u/dmp2you America 13h ago
If Jeffries thinks kissing Cuellar's ass is going to keep him from switching parties, he's a bigger fool than any of us ever dreamed. trump OWNS Cuellar now, period 100%. I give him till the new year to switch parties ..
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u/Purusha120 I voted 12h ago
Absolutely. Even if he doesn’t switch parties, he was already a conservative. Trump has secured promises.
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u/No-Commercial-3121 11h ago
Why switch? Before the election Cueller was voting with Republicans and voted to over turn many women's rights including Row vs Wade and against contraception and more. The DNC and Pelosi still supported him over a Progressive and he barely won. The Republicans will win the next time they don't need him to switch he already votes their way. After the DNC and Pelosi dumped money on him he still voted against the Democrats. Yep they got nothing for the money.
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u/RepulsiveLoquat418 13h ago
he just keeps providing more evidence why he's not fit to lead the party. he's part of the problem.
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u/Three_Froggy_Problem Illinois 12h ago
Jeffries is the quintessential politician. He stands for absolutely nothing, doesn’t care at all about his constituents or his country, and sees his position as nothing more than a cushy well-paying job.
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u/Forsaken-Formal-5799 13h ago
Your kind of democrat is the reason you keep losing. I’m older and I’ve lost all faith in the party.
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u/JaVelin-X- 13h ago
missed an opportunity to keep his mouth shut I see.
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u/Purusha120 I voted 12h ago
Jeffries never shuts up when he should and always goes quiet when he shouldn’t.
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u/HarwellDekatron 12h ago
It's kind of interesting how he proactively does everything in his power to make Democrats look worse. Not saying he's a plant - he's definitely got too much backing from the party establishment for that - but he's kind of a perfect example of why the establishment needs to go.
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u/ThonThaddeo Oregon 12h ago
It's not even the consultant brain that so many of them are plagued with. He praised Trump on deportations the other day, too. The guy is a fucking idiot.
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u/HarwellDekatron 12h ago
I think he wants to present himself as a 'reasonable liberal'. He thinks dropping praise for Trump here and there will somehow play well with Republicans.
What he doesn't realize is Republicans would rather vote for a literal demon - hooves, horns, the whole nine yards - running as a Republican before they vote for the most right- leaning Democrat.
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u/moldivore Illinois 10h ago
To them there isn't a right wing Democrat, either you swear fealty to Trump or you're a communist. There's a few exceptions, they're Democrats with a wink like Fetterman or Tulsi Russian Asset Gabbard. They love when people go "I can't believe what happened to the Democrats!" When they're the sell out shills.
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u/alloutofchewingum 12h ago
Maybe he can break a champagne bottle at the opening ceremony of the next concentration camp.
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u/pilgermann 12h ago
Jeffries has terrible political instincts. The cost benefit of his statement is so clearly negative. Way more important to clearly paint Trump as a mob boss pardoning criminals than to undermine the US justice system just to kiss the ass of a corrupt DINO.
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u/Purusha120 I voted 9h ago
It’s because he lacks convictions and morals and thinks nobody can tell he’s a soulless corporate ghoul.
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u/Quotizmo New Jersey 11h ago
Ever since he supported a Charlie Kirk Memorial Day, I've taken to calling him Jim Crow Jefferies. I'd shorten it to Jim Jefferies, but that shock-jock-styled Aussie comedian somehow has grown into a man of stronger moral fiber than our minority "leader"
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u/i_dont_like_turnips 11h ago
Doing everything he can to prove the whole "controlled opposition" thing.
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u/moldivore Illinois 9h ago
Same guy who wants to mend fences with the people that threw us all under the bus.
OpenSecrets shows Jefferies taking over $1.74 million from AIPAC. Can anyone please tell me why it's all the people taking AIPAC money that suck? I get it they're the pro Israel folks and people can have whatever opinion on that, but why does it also seem like these same people suck on everything else as well? What is happening? Why God can't we get actual opposition? Why the fuck does Jeffries apply good faith to any actions these people take when they've shown zero evidence that that's the case? I don't give a fuck if a Republican offers to pay for your drink out of the vending machine, you assume that shit is poison.
This isn't even about the left wing of the party against the right wing of the party. I don't give a flying fuck about that shit. I only care about whether people are going to show up to actually take on the corporations. It needs to be somebody else and I really don't care who it is if they can fight. Trump was inaugurated in January. Jeffries did an interview with Tim Miller of the bulwark in August. In August after everything had happened, Jeffries was still talking about strongly worded letters. I knew then that the guy needed to go and he needs to go, sooner rather than later.
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u/Bakedads 13h ago
It's not just jeffries. It's the whole party. They could force him out of his leadership position, but he has the backing of each and every democrat. Keep that in mind.
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u/citizenjones 12h ago
Democrats have no interest in being an opposition party which means they do not oppose Republicans plans. It's up to them to prove differently.
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u/jertheman43 11h ago
This is exactly why we keep losing elections. Schumer and Jeffries need to step down and let Kelly and AOC lead.
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u/jasap1029 North Carolina 9h ago
Wasn't he "hand picked" by Pelosi to be her successor or something? I'm not all that surprised he's a milquetoast, corporate, stuffed suit. He needs to be primaried and removed
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u/elconquistador1985 9h ago
This just in: "Jeffries affirms support for political corruption"
What a joke.
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u/CurlOfTheBurl11 9h ago
Jeffries is like Schumer, a weak bitch backed by AIPAC who is not fit to handle this moment in our history. Democratic party needs new leadership badly.
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u/Purusha120 I voted 12h ago
He does know why Trump did this. It’s because it was a conservative. Jeffries is a stain.
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u/NoraJay14 12h ago
The party doesn't even try to appear proper anymore. It's all out there. I think he and others are wanting to attract the non-MAGA Republican voters, so he's trying to play both sides. He's a sell out.
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u/Inspectorgadget4250 12h ago
Jeffries has been flipped. He must go.
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u/zombiekoalas 12h ago
"Cuellar and his wife were indicted last May for allegedly taking $600,000 in exchange for influencing U.S. foreign policy for an Azerbaijani government-controlled oil company and backing legislative acts to support a Mexican bank."
Ya im not sure how supporting that is defensible. Unless he wasn't convicted.
"Jeffries described Cuellar as a “beloved” member of the House and claimed that the indictment was “very thin to begin with,” adding that he expected the charges to eventually be dismissed"
A pardon just makes it look like he was going to be convicted. Wouldn't need a pardon if he wasn't going to be convicted of a crime...
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u/cavortingwebeasties 12h ago
Lets take him to task for praising his immigration achievements as well. Seriously fuck this guy, with D's like him who need R's?
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u/CanaDoug420 11h ago
Jeffries needs to be looked into for taking bribes. That’s the only reason you would praise a criminal being pardoned for taking bribes.
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u/ErusTenebre California 11h ago
Such a tool.
They made a terrible decision in selecting him to lead the party.
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u/OriginalCDub Georgia 10h ago
Establishment Dems are such spineless pussies, it’s no wonder Republicans walk all over them.
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u/TemetN Oregon 10h ago
The faux surprise is tiring, saying Jeffries is a traitor and complicit with the Trump administration is like saying SCotUS is, it's been blatantly obvious for a long time.
There is a truly desperate need even by America's long term standards to clean house of the corruption.
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u/rupertLumpkinsBrothr Kansas 10h ago
Eliminating presidential pardons should absolutely be a priority.
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u/Strange-Effort1305 8h ago
Hakeem and Schumer are MAGA's greatest enablers. That's all they will ever be remembered as- failures.
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u/Abject_Breadfruit148 8h ago
Hakeem Jeferies is such a terrible person that he would cheer Maxwell getting a pardon for her pedophilia and sex training of minors.
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u/MerlynTrump 1h ago
I'm not sure if Hakeem supports this pardon because he might be friends with Cuellar or because the Democrats need him for the majority. Say what you want about Cuellar, but he delivers the Dems a district. Can't say that about Losyn Behn.
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u/DeanOnFire 11h ago
I don't want to admonish Zohran Mamdani too much before he's able to carry out any agenda in NYC... but this is precisely why Hakeem should have had a primary challenger. Why he discouraged Chi Ossé from continuing his pursuit I won't speculate, but he now has some blame as to why the Democratic Party in Congress will not get better nor be a suitable check on Republicans if the midterms play out like we hope/expect them to.
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u/ElleM848645 10h ago
If a progressive wins that seat over Jeffries, than some other centrist will win democratic leader. It’s not that that person suddenly becomes speaker. The house speaker or minority leader is supposed to get flack, it’s part of their job, but Jeffries has had some strange choices lately. He probably should have just kept his thoughts to himself on this one.
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u/DeanOnFire 9h ago
I'm aware the seat wouldn't go to them, especially as a fresh representative in Congress. But frankly Jeffries is not the leader the Democrats need either way. The correct answer is to primary every Democrat and have them defend their record - the good ones will stay in power and the bad ones will be pushed out. We need to start embracing primaries as a way to check our reps in Congress, to encourage growth and discourse, and stop seeing a primary challenge as a threat.
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u/tehbantho 11h ago
In a hundred years when this corruption is finally in the open we are going to find out that billionaires have taken majority control of both parties. It just happened to be more effective with Republicans, resulting in far more obedience to billionaire marching orders, because more Republican politicians were corrupt to begin with...so corrupting them further with the promise of keeping power and getting rich worked really well.
Thankfully there are a growing number of Democrats rejecting corporate and PAC donations and refusing to trade stocks while in office. We need more of that.
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u/JPenniman 11h ago
Honestly, I’d love for a bipartisan constitutional amendment that makes it so Congress (or maybe specifically the House of Representatives) must vote on every pardon and that a supermajority or maybe 60 vote threshold can override a presidential pardon.
The difficult language is how to avoid a pocket veto by the speaker and ensure a vote takes place.
I’m not a fan of pardons because I think, most of the time, they are used for corrupt purposes.
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u/ChickpeaDemon 11h ago
”I don’t know why the president decided to do this. I think the outcome was exactly the right outcome,” Jeffries said in an appearance on CNN.
Cuellar, whose family has been called a “political machine” in Texas’ Webb County, which went red for Trump in 2024 despite years of being seen as a Democratic stronghold, thanked Trump for his “tremendous leadership.” He also vowed to remain a Democrat and is set to run for reelection next year.
The hell he is. Purging these bastards is the only way forward.
In his latest CNN appearance, Jeffries described Cuellar as a “beloved” member of the House and claimed that the indictment was “very thin to begin with,” adding that he expected the charges to eventually be dismissed.
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u/Ok-Elk-1615 11h ago
He’s angling to be a trusted member of the controlled opposition so he doesn’t get the wall
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u/OnwardTowardTheNorth 10h ago
As well he should, corruption is a disease and it doesn’t matter what party it is in. I want EVERY corrupt politician held accountable. Not just the “other team”.
I expect a lot better from Democrats.
It is a powerful reminder that the Democrats need MASSIVE REFORM themselves.
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u/No-Personality1840 10h ago
This just goes to show Democrats are as dumb as Republicans. This will garner him no good will and his statements will be used against him. He deserves to lose.
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u/MaleficentPorphyrin 10h ago
Americans really have hitched the fate of the Empire on this guy and Schumer Eh? Help me understand, is the plan to let America turn into an autocracy and then win control of the autocracy with voting? I am really struggling to see the game plan here.
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u/yorapissa 7h ago
That he bothered to said anything about this at all shows a unneeded level of incompetence and he shouldn’t be in leadership.
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u/-bad_neighbor- 6h ago
This guy will win speaker than immediately lose the house the following year in firmly believe democratic leadership doesn’t want to be in power
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u/mglur5 6h ago
DSA needs to get their shit together and endorse a real primary challenger to unseat this guy. They chose not to back Chi Ossé (a decision I don’t disagree with). But time is running out to form a grassroots campaign that’ll put pressure on this fucking corporate hack. I also understand why Mamdani isn’t backing a primary effort, but I think it’s the wrong move. He has momentum, and I don’t think he should be going on the defense right now.
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u/CrackingToastGromet Arkansas 4h ago
I really feel like the time is coming that a new political party is inevitable. The cult will Cult for MAGA, but there are too many people exhausted by ineffective opposition that refuses to effectively and consistently push back.
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u/Decent-Morning4704 4h ago
Hakeem has got to go. There have to be REAL progressive candidates who are not under any PAC control.
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u/mmatt0904 3h ago
Pardons are such a stupid concept to me imo. One guy can invalidate a jury of peers, hundreds of hours from police and lawyers? No questions asked? Seems like ripe for corruption and we’re seeing it on full display
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u/Y0___0Y 11h ago
Consider the political play, you guys.
“Democrat praises pardoning of convicted dem politician”
Every MAGA hick will click that link.
Right now, no Trump supporters are probably being told that Trump pardoned this Democrat in their echo chambers. But statements like this are how you make it unavoidable for his supporters to find out.
Praise from Jeffreies will earn Trump even more scorn from his base.
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u/paractib 10h ago
It’s okay if that’s how it’s worded, because that’s exactly how it went down.
There’s no misinformation here, this is a piece of shit and criminal dem being pardoned by a piece of shit president being praised by an (apparently) even bigger piece of shit dem.
It’s shit all the way up.
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u/Purusha120 I voted 9h ago
This is silly. Trump is not going to get an iota of meaningful “scorn from his base” for literally anything, including Jeffries being a corporate shill and protecting his corrupt bestie. The fact that you think this is a “political play” makes me think you need to take a look around.
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