Are You Kidding Me?

 We haven't finished counting ballots and already a faction of mostly left-aligned voices are calling to prevent Hakeem Jeffries from becoming Speaker. Some of this is because he took a meeting with Jared Kushner a few months ago, where Kushner likely was trying to head off a jail term. Did Jeffries give Kushner any guarantees? Don't think so. He took a meeting. That's it.

The incredible upsets earlier this week were most notably in South Carolina and apparently Mississippi. That was in large part by a massive turnout from Black voters. Now, a bunch of leftists and "Do Something" people want to deny the first Black Speaker of the House? I had one friend talk about how Jeffries took his name off a healthcare bill when he became leader. My understanding is that Leaders typically do not sponsor legislation. If that is what happened - Jeffries became Minority Leader and took his name off legislation - why is my friend upset about that or even just learning about it in the first place? 

It strikes me that online mis- and disinformation takes this form a lot. It will take something, turn it 90 degrees, then push it through the algorithm until people get pissed over completely normal stuff. The outrage machine gets revved up and crushes any reasoned arguments and ignores any contradictory evidence.

People worried that Jeffries isn't going to investigate Trump and other creatures, OK, yes, he's not. He's the Speaker of the House. But every single Committee Chair is going to go hog wild on subpoenas. Jeffries job as Minority Leader was to win as many races as possible and get the majority. I think it's safe to say that he pulled this off.

I'm less adamant that Schumer become Majority Leader in the Senate, mainly because I don't think we need leadership that's old. Schumer has a touch of "Senate Brain" and while I will write in a bit about what these majorities can actually do at a later date, I don't know if Schumer is the guy for this moment. He did pump money in Mississippi; he did come to El Sayed's help when he needed it; he did recruit guys like Sherrod Brown, Roy Cooper and Mary Peltola. I think he was really judicious with how he saw the map and is a reason we are winning in places like South Carolina. 

Still, that doesn't necessarily make him a wartime consigliere. 

Jeffries, on the other hand, was hand picked by Nancy Pelosi, and that's good enough for me. 

The other thing that people are using against Jeffries is AIPAC money. He has been in various leadership positions and taken money from AIPAC over the years. It looks like he took under $500,000 this cycle. Jeffries then takes that money and spreads it around various races. I've already agreed with Yglesias that AIPAC is largely no longer the force in Democratic politics that it once was. Funneling their money through Jeffries' PAC is...fine. 

AIPAC spent about $135,000,000 on Democratic candidates this cycle, and they spent the most on Haley Stevens, so...yeah. But they also gave a lot to Don Davis, who won his gerrymandered seat in North Carolina. 

I think AIPAC is trash, but until we start seeing Democrats as a whole deciding that Israel is supercool for their behavior in Gaza and the West Bank, maybe keep the circular firing squad in check? It looks like Netanyahu might actually be toast, so we will see if Israel starts behaving better. If they do, good, but that won't be because AIPAC gave money to Jeffries.