Discontent

I’m not a big political cartoon fan, but when this guy does a cartoon like this, you know that mainstream Democrats are unhappy with DC leadership. (Thanks to the reader who sent this in.)

Anyway, here are my complaints about DC Dems, in no special order.

First, in the house, the New Democrat Coalition had over 100 House members sign on to this weak sauce immigration proposal. Here’s the overview:

• Funding scanning technology to inspect 100% of cargo at U.S. ports of entry, supporting efforts to dismantle cartels and combat smuggling, providing resources for the removal of violent offenders, and ensuring DHS oversight with humane detention conditions.

• Ensuring workforce visa programs protect American workers and their wages, creating a caregiver visa to expand access to child and elder care, safeguarding high-skilled worker and investor programs, and incentivizing research in emerging fields like Quantum and AI.

• Establishing legal pathways for legal residents and those with U.S. citizen spousal or parental ties.

• Expanding migrant processing coordinators at ports of entry and supporting international efforts to dismantle cartels and combat drug and human trafficking across U.S. borders.

• Upgrading ports of entry, modernizing immigration agencies and visa processing, and directing federal agencies to develop a national strategy to connect immigrants’ skills with local labor needs.

Some of this is OK, but the framing is just terrible. How about we start with stopping ICE agents from wilding around in masks without identification? How about we deal with legal pathways for undocumented residents who are law-abiding hard workers? This is just a weak ass nothingburger. And, what the fuck is Quantum? Finally, it’s the New Democratic Coalition — some of us seem to have forgotten that calling us the “Democrat Party” is a sign of disrespect from Republicans.

Then, there’s Schumer’s efforts in the Maine Senatorial race.

I don’t know - I like Janet Mills, but 77 is 77. Collins is a mere 72, so age isn’t going to be a big issue if MIlls runs. We’ve had a terrible history with Maine — Sarah Gideon ended her campaign in 2020 with millions of dollars in the bank simply because her campaign was so well-funded that she couldn’t spend it all. So maybe Mills knocks out Collins and retires at 83, paving the way for another Democrat.

That TNR piece is about the announced Democratic candidate, Graham Platner, who has a compelling announcement video. But running for Senate after not having run for anything before is a big stretch, and there are many stumbles that a brand-new candidate can make. So I’ll give Schumer a tiny pass on this one, but only a tiny one.

Finally, Jeffries and Schumer seem to be teeing up another cave on the government shutdown. Here’s their not-very-strongly-worded-letter, and here’s Brian Beutler’s take:

There is just no fight in these guys. The world is on fire and they can’t even let Republicans shut down the government.