I interviewed The Intercept’s Ryan Grim at Netroots Nation 2019 in Philadelphia. We discussed the Democratic Party, Nancy Pelosi, and The Squad (Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ayanna Pressley, Ilhan Omar, and Rashida Tlaib).
Ryan Grim has a new book, “We’ve Got People: From Jesse Jackson to AOC, the End of Big Money and the Rise of a Movement” that we discussed as well.
The Intercept’s Ryan Grim did not hold back
“I swear that what Pelosi and the CBC are doing right now to AOC and the others is not a plant,” Ryan Grim said. “It’s not some type of book promotion scam that I engineered. What they are doing now is what’s in this book on steroids.”
That statement got my attention because I see Pelosi and the Democratic Establishment making a mistake that could be fatal by not understanding generational and class issues in the proper context. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, and Ayanna Pressley, aka The Squad, do.
Yesterday on Politics Done Right I asked my listeners one important question. What policies specifically supported by The Squad they don’t support? Robert Reich pointed out that if one were to define the “Center” based on the polls, it is the Squad that is at the center.
So why do the powerful call these policy ideas “fringe,” or “radical,” or “socialist?”
Money. Many of these initiatives would cost them – requiring either higher taxes on the rich (many could be achieved by repealing the giant Trump tax cut for the wealthy and corporations), or regulations that might cut into their corporate profits.
So you can bet that as these proposals become even more popular, the powerful are going to intensify their attacks.
I asked Ryan about his thoughts on the election. He provided an assessment on Democrats that they would do well heeding. He points out that Democrats tend to overthink elections. They elect people they are led to believe are more electable as opposed to electing people that speak to their values. It ultimately results in a candidate that people have little passion for all around.