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  • AkaSci 🛰️AkaSci@fosstodon.org
    Nov 6, 2026, 2:04 PM

    "In my opinion, Hakeem Jeffries — who I concede many of you likely hate as a person — has been maximally effective.

    In the last 20 months, House Dems were repeatedly unified on votes.
    Dem unity made splits in the GOP caucus disastrous for Mike Johnson.
    Jeffries and his leadership team effectively took away one of the biggest tools Trump has to sow authoritarianism, a House majority.
    Has been a fundraising powerhouse
    Helped win seats in the Deep South."

    emptywheel.net/2026/11/05/on-c
    #UsPol
    1/n

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Replies

  • AkaSci 🛰️AkaSci@fosstodon.org
    Nov 6, 2026, 2:21 PM

    emptywheel writes in the defense of Hakeem Jeffries:

    "Hakeem Jeffries is not YOUR leader. There are actually people leading the resistance well already.

    He is the leader of 255 incoming Members of Congress, more than half of whom are more conservative than you, than me, and even than Hakeem Jeffries."

    #UsPol
    2/n

    Bsky post by emptywheel @emptywheel.bsky.social Hakeem Jeffries is not YOUR leader. There are actually people leading the resistance well already. He is the leader of 255 incoming Members of Congress, more than half of whom are more conservative than you, than me, and even than Hakeem Jeffries.
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  • AkaSci 🛰️AkaSci@fosstodon.org
    Nov 6, 2026, 2:26 PM

    The well-written article by emptywheel also provides some broader lessons for all of us - to have informed opinions, to learn about the big picture, to learn about the person's decades of history, to understand their roles and responsibilities, to not react to isolated statements or quips made by leaders or pundits or opponents, to not follow the herd.

    To see things not just from our own eyes, but through the eyes of others and the eyes of the target of our opinion.

    #UsPol
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  • Mastodon Migrationmastodonmigration@mastodon.online
    Nov 6, 2026, 3:01 PM

    @AkaSci Interesting article. She makes many good points about the complexity of the job and Jeffries administrative ability. However, dismissing his inability to articulate a vision commensurate with the moment misses the mark. The Speaker Of The House, the people's House, at a time when we need to radically reform our political system, is not just the leader of 250+ legislators. They are a public figure whose words and priorities must resonate with the public. They set the agenda.

    1/

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  • Mastodon Migrationmastodonmigration@mastodon.online
    Nov 6, 2026, 3:10 PM

    @AkaSci For his first foray into the limelight to be perceived as a 'forgive and forget, time to move forward' appeal, whether that's what he meant or not, is absolutely disqualifying.

    We have incredible momentum, and a huge task ahead to restore this nation. This will require leadership that is not hesitant to talk about accountability and the rule of law.

    The people, through their votes, have demanded this system be fixed. We now need those in leadership to be up to the task.

    2/

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  • AkaSci 🛰️AkaSci@fosstodon.org
    Nov 6, 2026, 3:58 PM

    @mastodonmigration
    I think we should not take words from politicians at face value.

    Sometimes they lie, sometimes they want to appear as reasonable to the electorate, sometimes they want to able claim that they tried to be reasonable, sometimes they play good-cop/bad-cop.

    I am sure that the statements below were not made without consulting leadership.

    I am no expert in these matters; I trust Democrats in Congress will figure things out and choose the right leaders.

    Tweets by House Judiciary Dems @HouseJudiciary 1. As America’s new Congress gets ready to launch real oversight over this lawless president and the entire executive branch and all of the corruption flowing through and around them, we offer this word of advice to the wise in both the government and private sectors: don't start shredding documents, deleting emails or engaging in any other kind of obstruction of justice or destruction of evidence. It will make matters a lot worse for you in Congress and in the courts. 2. For anyone who has worked with MAGA and Trump to obtain no-bid government contracts, presidential pardons, special tariff exemptions, and other regulatory and policy favors, don’t compound your problems by trying to cover it up. You may call it a "revised document retention policy”; we just call it obstruction and evidence tampering. So does the U.S. Criminal Code.
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  • Mastodon Migrationmastodonmigration@mastodon.online
    Nov 6, 2026, 4:14 PM

    @AkaSci Understood. No doubts about Judiciary leaders like Jamie Raskin and Ted Lieu aggressively pursuing accountability. What we need is a Speaker that not only permits them to do their job, but leads with initiative and drives public support. The notion that the Speaker's job is not to speak should be rejected.

    Feel like we need to avoid the trap of being convinced that these things are too arcane. Leaders need to lead. Simple as that.

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  • Mastodon Migrationmastodonmigration@mastodon.online
    Nov 6, 2026, 4:19 PM

    @AkaSci Guess the overarching point is that if the pitch is; 'don't believe your lying eyes, he really is a good leader,' then he is not a good leader.

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  • AkaSci 🛰️AkaSci@fosstodon.org
    Nov 6, 2026, 9:48 PM

    @mastodonmigration
    IMHO, the esteemed Democratic members are perfectly capable of picking the leaders of the House and Senate.

    If there are better candidates than Jeffries and Schumer in their judgement for the task that lies ahead, then its good for the party and for our future.

    In the process, we should not tar and feather Jeffries and Schumer and label them as pariahs or beholden to oligarchs or plain incompetent. That's what the right wants us to do, to create fissures and mistrust.

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  • jz.tuskjztusk@mastodon.social
    Nov 6, 2026, 3:46 PM

    @mastodonmigration @AkaSci

    Yeah, Marcy makes good points, but what it made me think is: leading when you're in the minority is different from leading when you've got the majority.

    If Jeffries had immediately switched gears, then okay, yeah, maybe keep him. But the first thing I hear is he is asked about "getting even", and he needed to absolutely wreck that false language, and he didn't. We need someone else.

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