Democratic lawmakers have ordered former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to quit the public gripes about the party's failures, the UK Daily Mail reported. Pelosi has been denigrating her side after losing the White House and the Congress to the GOP.
The 84-year-old California Democrat has ruffled the feathers of her fellow lawmakers over her public tirades. These Democrats, who spoke to Axios on the condition of anonymity, believe it's harmful to the party and disrespectful to House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.
"She needs to take a seat. Making scattershot comments is not just unhelpful, it's damaging," a veteran Democratic lawmaker told the news outlet.
A member of the Congressional Black Caucus took umbrage with her treatment of Jeffries. "Hakeem has been tremendously graceful and respectful of her, but I don't think she is being respectful of him," the person said.
Although Pelosi hasn't been in leadership in two years, her outsized power is still apparent to House Democrats. They have been under her thumb for over 20 years, and she hasn't backed off that position as she'd promised when stepping away from leadership.
That fact has caused serious conflicts within the party as Pelosi airs its dirty laundry while also being a decision-maker. For instance, Pelosi was instrumental in getting President Joe Biden to step down from his reelection bid.
"We just have to win the election," Pelosi said at the time when pushing Biden aside. Many others in the party were happy about this move then, but the decision ultimately proved damaging to the Democratic Party.
However, during an interview with The New York Times for an election postmortem, Pelosi pinned the blame on President Joe Biden. She charged that "there may have been other candidates in the race" had he gotten out of the race sooner.
Instead, they were stuck with the unpopular Vice President Kamala Harris as his replacement, but the events that got them there started with Pelosi. Democrats across the U.S. went down in a decisive defeat, in part because voters chose President-elect Donald Trump and the down-ballot Republicans.
While Pelosi continues to throw her weight around, Jeffries looks like an ineffective leader for his party while falling on his sword for the Democratic Party. Pelosi has been supportive of Jeffries in what she has to say publicly as well.
A spokesperson for Pelosi said she is "immensely proud of Leader Hakeem Jeffries and his masterful stewardship of the House Democratic Caucus" in a statement to Axios. "We all should praise the excellent progress made by House Democrats under his leadership."
In the same Times interview where Pelosi dragged Biden, she acknowledged Jeffries' success. "He did a masterful job in New York in this election," Pelosi told the New York Times.
When the dust settled, Democrats picked up three seats in Jeffries' home state of New York, while Pelosi's California lost five seats. Jeffries said that "the buck stops with me" to members of the Congressional Black Caucus, but it appears Pelosi is still pulling party strings while allowing Jeffries to take the blame.
This in-fighting among Democrats is a sign that the party is in shambles. Rather than let the newer leaders take over and fix things, Pelosi is still holding on to power with all of her might.
