PASS THE POPCORN.

The gerontocracy that is the Democrat House leadership passes the torch.  The communist on corporatist fratricide continues.  "Congressman Hakeem Jeffries is a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, but that affiliation for the heir apparent to the current House Speaker should not be taken at face value."  There's enough gridlock now that the United States will not turn into Venezuela all at once, or in the next two years.  It's not that there aren't people who would welcome such a transition.

When Nancy Pelosi announced two weeks ago that she will no longer lead House Democrats, she said: “The hour has come for a new generation to lead.” But in what direction?

Pelosi quickly endorsed Rep. Hakeem Jeffries to replace her as leader. NBC News offered the common media frame: “Pelosi made history as the first female speaker of the House, while Jeffries, the current Democratic Caucus chairman, would become the first Black leader of a congressional caucus and highest-ranking Black lawmaker on Capitol Hill.”

You can count on much of the mass media to shower the 52-year-old Jeffries with accolades, largely supplied by fellow Democrats. But, overall, a closer look reveals a problematic record.

Early on, before becoming a New York state legislator, Jeffries worked for years as a corporate lawyer. In Congress—while he has taken a few progressive positions like cosponsoring Medicare for All and voting to cut 10 percent of the military budget—his emphasis has been in sync with the party establishment.

That party establishment is still soft on crime and beholden to technocratic overreach. But that's not becoming Venezuela fast enough if you write for Common Dreams.

“I’m a Black progressive Democrat concerned with addressing racial and social and economic injustice with the fierce urgency of now,” Jeffries told The Atlantic in August 2021. But during the same interview, Jeffries added: “There will never be a moment where I bend the knee to hard-left democratic socialism.” (Ironically, Jeffries was echoing the “fierce urgency of now” phrase from Martin Luther King Jr., who was a democratic socialist.)

Jeffries likes to jab leftward. In 2016, he called Bernie Sanders a “gun-loving socialist with zero foreign-policy experience.” A 2018 profile in The Economist—titled “High Hopes for Hakeem Jeffries” – concluded that he “is nearly as moderate as a safe-seat Democrat gets.” The article pointed out: "Though he supports the principle of universal healthcare coverage, he speaks of ‘the importance of market forces and getting things done in a responsible fashion.’ Quoting Ronald Reagan approvingly, he suggests this means promoting a flourishing private sector outside the ‘legitimate functions’ of government."

That's unfair to Crazy Bernie, who, recall, did honeymoon in Soviet Moscow.  To hear a Democrat conceding "legitimate functions" suggests there's still room to make the case for enumerated and limited powers.  Last time I checked, though, the so-called Progressive Caucus was not yet a majority among House Donks; and the more those kids cut up, the fewer safe seats there will be.