An Exercise in Cowardice: Hakeem Jeffries as Chief Quisling

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“I want to give you a little real talk on this Jared Kushner situation.”

So begins one of the most pathetic modern videos by a political leader. New York Representative Hakeem Jeffries, the expected Speaker of the House should the Democratic Party gain a majority in the November Midterm Elections, delivered too little too late following reports that he had met with President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and fixer Jared Kushner in a meeting The New York Times characterized as “a catch-up” to establish a working relationship going forward.

Since this was revealed on Sunday, Democratic voters have been apoplectic and reasonably so. For starters, Kushner holds no official job within the Trump Administration. He has been deployed as a disastrous envoy in sham negotiations with Iran. He has worked hand-in-hand with Israeli prime-minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has he has known since childhood, in developing a post-genocide over the bones and blood in Gaza that will serve corporate real estate interests. And he’s done all of this when he isn’t busy sparking a political revolution in Albania over his and wife’s Ivanka Trump’s designs to build a luxury development on a nature preserve. Since Trump won the presidency in 2016, Kushner has used his ties to the family to balloon his personal fortune while pretending to serve the public interest.

There’s no reason for Jeffries to meet with Kushner, regardless of whether Kushner asked for this meeting as Jeffriers claims. If he did it to find “common ground” with the Trump Administration, it proves his lack of moral and ethical leadership and confirms every doubt Democratic voters have about him. If he did it to discuss “the affordability crisis” and was, as some liberal voices now claim, was caught in a “trap” by Trump and Kushner, then that only proves his faulty political instincts and means he shouldn’t be Speaker anyway.

And, yet, centrist Democrats everywhere rallied. Sure, some posted that they were “concerned” that Jeffries met with Kushner, but certainly there was a good reason. Maybe, they said, he wanted to deliver a warning to Kushner personally that if Democrats gained power they would be subpoenaing him and his fellow conspirators.

On Monday, Jeffries released this embarrassing statement to try and smooth things over. Tellingly, he only posted the video on Twitter and ignored Bluesky, rightfully believing that the latter social media platform would invite harsher criticism. It’s a tactic we’re seeing more and more of from corporate Democrats, and we could spend a lot of time talking about their continued reliance on Elon Musk’s white supremacist platform, but that will have to wait. Instead, if you haven’t already, please return to the video above and give it a listen for yourself.

Jeffries only mentions the Kushner meeting in passing and quickly changes the subject. He confirms he spoke about the cost of living crisis but intentionally leaves out that they also touched on housing and immigration, two issues that even pretending to have a discussion about would give the entire game away.

_{per The New York Times}

The reason this is omitted is simple. There is no room for compromise on the subject of immigration, at least not publicly. The Trump Administration has created a secret police in ICE that is one of the largest military forces in the world. They have invaded America cities, kidnapped men, women, and children, murdered multiple people in broad daylight, have brutalized Americans and immigrants alike, and help operate a system of concentration camps where an untold number of people have been abused and have died.

In response to this existential crisis, Jeffries has called for “an accountability agenda” and has “strongly” called for the reform of ICE. This has been the party line, after all, and any candidate who has stated the obvious need for ICE to be abolished and prosecuted has been treated as a violent insurgent needing defeated.

But quickly, Jeffries changes the subject in a wild attempt to reframe his meeting. We began with the mental picture of Jeffries sitting across from Kushner discussing the affordability crisis, and then Jeffries quickly promises “No one is going to get a pass. We’re going to hold every single member of the Trump Cartel accountable.”

Certainly Kushner is part of what Jeffries calls “the Trump Cartel.” How could he not be? So, Jeffries wants us to hold two things in mind at once, no matter how contradictory: he decided to talk to Jared Kushner about possible collaboration while also intending to hold Kushner accountable.

For most, this is weak sauce. Cognitive dissonance is a hell of a thing though. For those of us who see Jeffries for what he is, namely a corporate toadie tasked with representing the monied interests behind the Democratic Party, the attempt is cringeworthy and an indictment. Jeffries is the same man who last year met with tech oligarchs who had already essentially carried out a technological coup with the help of Trump and who have made it abundantly clear they are antidemocratic fascists. It’s probably no wonder that the Democrats, although depressingly broke because small donors have deserted them, has had a mountain of tech and AI cash at their disposal and, no surprise, that Jeffries, as leader of Democrats in Congress, made it clear heading into Midterms that the official line of the party wasn’t opposition to data center construction - which is opposed by 70% of Americans - but support for the construction with a promise to “protect power costs by consumers.”

But for the centrist and corporate Democrat commentator, who enjoys salaries and prestige from both the party and its many corporate donors, quickly stated that Jeffries’ comments vindicated the speaker-to-be and that critics “owed him an apology.” Why? Because that’s their job. It’s what they get paid to do. And, like good little flacks, they lined up behind Jeffries in order to launder an ugly story and turn it into a positive.

“Don’t you want Trump held accountable?” they were intimating to followers desperate to see these criminals get their comeuppance. “See! He’s saying what you want him to say!”

This is an increasingly desperate party and an increasingly desperate commentariat. With the Democratic Party’s approval ratings in the toilet and donations cut off, not to mention a spate of leftist and progressive challengers meeting public demand and winning primaries, this is a full-on PR crisis. It’s likely Jeffries wasn’t expecting the meeting with Kushner to be publicized, or maybe he wanted it to be publicized in order to keep worried billionaire and millionaire donors happy as they continue to want the Democrats to play nice with the authoritarian Right that’s carrying out their agenda, but, either way, this was a public relations mess that had to be cleaned up. Jeffries did the bare minimum and revealed, in addition to his lack of moral and ethical clarity, an inability to even perform the role necessary. Luckily, much like what Fox News has done for Republicans for nearly two decades now, there was a waiting conglomeration of influencers and loyalists ready to sing his praises.

The problem is that the base is tired of all this bullshit. Hence, the low ratings and empty coffers. Hence, the insurgents winning. They watched Jeffries’ lame video, or maybe they didn’t because it was on X, where many of the centrist Democrats desperate to believe Jeffries still reside, and rolled their eyes. But the flacks and the influencers will do their jobs and cash their checks. They’ll tell you over and over that you can’t believe your eyes or your ears or even your own memory.

They’ll whip up conspiracy theories.

Attack anyone who sees through the thin gruel.

And they’ll do it as viciously and shamelessly as you could ever imagine.

Meanwhile, Jeffries, if he is to become speaker, will continue collaborating with Kushner and Trump because that’s what his job is: to do the bidding of donors who are paying both parties to carry out this sham of a soap opera narrative. The Red / Blue Show. Like professional wrestling. Essentially, Jeffries cut a (lackluster) promo on the Trump Administration, but no one at the White House or whatever chateau or private island Kushner and Ivanka are residing in tonight takes it seriously. It’s all theater, after all, and they’ve got more than enough people on the payroll to do the heavy lifting of cleaning up this mess.

And, if he becomes speaker, like Groundhog Day all over again, the same supporters giving him the benefit of the doubt will be wondering where are the subpoenas? Why isn’t ICE being reined in? Why is Trump still breaking the law without consequence? Why won’t the Democrats do something? And, inevitably, you’ll get another lame ass video from Jeffries and probably those around him.

Everything’s going according to plan, they’ll tell you. Be patient.

And the same chorus of voices will rise in unison to tell you not to believe what you’re seeing.