This midterm is the most important election in the life of our Republic. If Donald Trump is able to keep control of the House and Senate for two more years, the damage he’d be able to do to our freedoms and democracy would make the United States unrecognizable.
That means what we need from now to November 3rd is Democratic unity. But what we are getting from Hakeem Jeffries is the opposite. He is adding fuel to the simmering divides in our base as a time when our only focus should be winning in November!
The latest example came from Sunday’s reporting by the New York Times that Jeffries recently had a secret meeting with Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner to discuss “common ground.” As the Times reported, “The two men have stayed in touch since they worked together on a criminal justice bill midway through Mr. Trump’s first term.”
As to the meeting itself--per the Times—it was held in a private space in New York City where “the pair discussed housing, immigration and the high cost of living as potential areas of common ground.”
“Common ground” with Kushner and Trump?! Are you fu*king kidding me?!
We don’t make common ground with fascists! Trump is using the White House as a money-making scheme while waging an illegal war and weaponizing both the DOJ and FCC to target Trump’s critics from people like NY Attorney General Tish James to media outlets to even comedian Jimmy Kimmel!
There is no common ground. Our only focus between now and the election must be to crush the fascists!
Jeffries has not denied having the meeting. Instead, his statement to the NY Times focused on working with the GOP to reduce high prices. His statement reads, “In every conversation that we have with the Trump administration, we will continue to make it explicitly clear that the affordability crisis is not a hoax, and nothing short of transformational policy change is acceptable.” He added, “We are fighting for an affordable America. The question is whether Republicans will join us.”
“Join us”?! Trump unilaterally created the high prices with his tariffs and Iran war. Plus his oligarch buddies are making record profits by keeping gas and other prices artificially high. The focus should be slamming Trump for that.
Did Jeffries at least raise at the meeting how Kushner has been soliciting billions of dollars from Middle Eastern state sovereign wealth funds for his private equity firm while simultaneously co-leading the Trump Administration’s negotiations in the Middle East?! As Senator Ron Wyden recently put it, “Jared Kushner makes up for his flaws as an investor by being a wildly corrupt appendage of his father-in-law’s wildly corrupt administration.”
How could Jeffries not know the meeting would get leaked and it was the wrong thing to do?! This meeting doesn’t help Democrats win in November. In fact, now that we know about it, the result has been many Democrats slamming Jeffries online while some still defend him—causing a distraction to our real goal.
This reported meeting comes on the heels of Jeffries awful appearance last Sunday on NBC’s Meet the Press when he stated his opposition to Medicare for All. This is jaw-dropping given 90% of Democrats believe the government has a “responsibility to ensure health coverage” for everyone. (And per Pew polling, 2/3’s of all Americans agree!)
Jeffries had co-sponsored legislation creating Medicare for All from 2014 to 2021 but now as Democratic leader he opposes it. Many pointed to the hundreds of thousands of dollars he has raised from the healthcare industry for his campaign this year. The actual reason is unclear but Jeffries is turning his back on a concept supported by 9 of 10 Democrats.
Plus in that same interview, Jeffries stated he opposed abolishing ICE. Instead, the House Democratic leader stated he is “committed to dramatically reforming” the agency.
That, too, caused outrage among much of the Democratic base given that 75% of Democrats support abolishing ICE given it’s impossible to reform this Trump run agency that has killed American citizens and immigrants, terrorized communities and has been told by Trump they are above the law. Even the Democratic National Committee voted a little over a week ago to pass a resolution calling for ICE to be abolished—yet Jeffries opposes the policy.
Jeffries 100% wants Democrats to win the House and Senate this November. But you have to question his political instincts. His actions and words just two months from the election are undermining our efforts to win—and either he knows that and doesn’t care or he is oblivious to that reality.
With that said, we only have 70 days to win the midterm. That must be our only focus. From there we can--and must--debate who will be the leaders of our party going forward. But for now, let’s unite and win!
Hope you check out our very spirited discussion on this issue from Sunday as part of “YOU are my Guest” on Substack live:
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