2020 candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) said on Sunday that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is being a “little bit” too hard on progressive House Democrats such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
“What Alexandria and other young women and women of color are saying, ‘We have got to reach out to young people. We have got to heal the pain of the working class of this country,'” Sanders told NBC’s “Meet the Press” host Chuck Todd. “And that is causing some political disruption within the leadership of the Democratic Party.”
Sanders was referring to Ocasio-Cortez and Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), four progressive congresswomen who’ve tangled with Pelosi recently.
The Vermont senator says he supports their desire to “bring more people, especially young people, working class people, into the Democratic Party.”
“That is the future of the Democratic Party,” he continued.
“Do you think the Speaker’s being too tough on them?” asked Todd.
“I think a little bit,” Sanders responded. “I think you cannot ignore the young people of this country who are passionate about economic and racial and social and environmental justice. You’ve got to bring them in, not alienate them.”
Pelosi was criticized for her dismissive comments about Ocasio-Cortez, Omar, Pressley, and Tlaib after the four of them refused to back an emergency funding bill for immigration agencies. She has since reprimanded the congresswomen for publicly airing their complaints about fellow Democrats on Twitter.
Ocasio-Cortez volunteered in Sanders’ 2016 presidential campaign, and the two lawmakers are currently working together on a bill to cap credit card and payday loan interest rates at 15%
Watch Sanders speak below:
Bernie Sanders when asked if Pelosi's being too tough on AOC, other progressive Dems: "I think a little bit" pic.twitter.com/fhxqStpLr4
— TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) July 14, 2019
Solicited or Unsolicited…ill-advised
Sorry, Bernie, this is a matter for Democrats, so you need to stay out.
No Bernie, as usual you are wrong or deliberately deceptive
Nancy is not “harsh” on the “squad” because they are trying to bring WC people into the party. Show us an iota of proof where Pelosi has said that. What a load of crap.
The origin of this dispute is in the migrant bill which has nothing to do with WC. To Bernie who only has a hammer in his toolbox, everything is a nail.
Pelosi is upset because AOC’ COS wrote that a native American lesbian member of Congress is racist because she voted for a bill that vast majority of the caucus voted for. He singled out this particular congresswoman who also happens to be the person that AOC opposed in the primary campaigning (along with Bernie) for her opponent who was a white guy.
Bernie wants us to conveniently forget these facts by gaslighting us with this WC nonsense.
I have no respect for Sanders, but he’s right on one point. Pelosi should simply say that Democrats, unlike Republicans, accommodate a range of views and do not march in lockstep while mindlessly parroting leadership approved talking points. Don’t feed the “Democrats in disarray” meme, play it as the strength that diverse opinions bring to a democracy.