Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats have a massive problem on their hands.
And the fallout could sink the party’s chances in November.
There’s a secret recording going public that has Pelosi realizing the end is near.
Democrats are engaged in a messy civil war.
The far-left base is waging a death struggle against the party establishment over the direction of the “resistance” to Donald Trump.
Left-wing activists are running for office on a platform of liberal wish-list items such as impeachment, amnesty, and gun bans.
But the party establishment is trying to force these activists out of the races to clear the field for their handpicked candidates.
The biggest flashpoint is now a House race in Colorado.
In a secret recording now being released, House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer pressures far-left candidate Levi Tillemann to drop out of the Colorado race so the establishment’s selection has a clear shot at the general election.
The Intercept reports:
“The secretly taped audio recording, released here for the first time, reveals how senior Democratic officials have worked to crush competitive primaries and steer political resources, money, and other support to hand-picked candidates in key races across the country, long before the party publicly announces a preference. The invisible assistance boosts the preferred candidate in fundraising and endorsements, and then that fundraising success and those endorsements are used to justify national party support. Meanwhile, opponents of the party’s unspoken pick are driven into paranoia, wondering if they are merely imagining that unseen hands are working against them.
Hoyer bluntly told Tillemann that it wasn’t his imagination, and that mobilizing support for one Democratic candidate over another in a primary isn’t unusual. Rep. Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M., chair of the DCCC, has a “policy that early on, we’d try to agree on a candidate who we thought could win the general and give the candidate all the help we could give them,” Hoyer told Tillemann matter-of-factly.
“Yeah, I’m for Crow,” Hoyer explained. “I am for Crow because a judgment was made very early on. I didn’t know Crow. I didn’t participate in the decision. But a decision was made early on by the Colorado delegation,” he said, referencing the three House Democrats elected from Colorado.
“So your position is, a decision was made very early on before voters had a say, and that’s fine because the DCCC knows better than the voters of the 6th Congressional District, and we should line up behind that candidate,” asked Tillemann during the conversation.
“That’s certainly a consequence of our decision,” responded Hoyer.
“Staying out of primaries sounds small-D democratic, very intellectual, and very interesting,” said Hoyer. “But if you stay out of primaries, and somebody wins in the primary who can’t possibly win in the general,” the Maryland representative said, citing the surprise victory of Democrat Doug Jones over Republican Roy Moore in the Alabama Senate election, “I’m not saying you’re that person.” But staying out of primaries, he argued, is “not very smart strategy.”
This is the biggest threat to Pelosi’s chances to become Speaker.
If Democrats engage in a circular firing squad that makes their voting base feel the establishment is playing dirty in primaries, grassroots Democrats may not be as enthusiastic to turn out in November.
Any downtick in Democrat turnout could keep Congress in Republicans hands.
We will keep you up to date on any new developments in the 2018 elections.
