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"My Job Is Not to Protect the Squad": Briahna Joy Gray Wants to Upend Democrats' Political Strategy
These days, Gray has found herself at odds with fellow travelers as much as her centrist adversaries. When most eyes were still fixated on the smoldering embers of the Trump presidency, another drama was unfolding in the very online world of left media. It was during that stormy postelection period when Gray emerged as one of the most vocal champions of a campaign that called on Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and other members of the progressive caucus to withhold their support for Nancy Pelosi’s speakership unless “Medicare for All” was brought to a floor vote in the House. The effort proved divisive, revealing key philosophical differences among the cadre of podcasters, writers, and YouTubers who, not that long ago, were mostly unified behind Sanders.
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The “force the vote” campaign was spearheaded by Jimmy Dore, a fiery comedian who hosts a progressive show on YouTube with more than 850,000 subscribers. Dore’s advocacy was typified by sometimes profane outbursts directed at other progressives who were wary of the strategy. When Ocasio-Cortez and other members of “the Squad” rebuffed the strategy and backed Pelosi’s speakership, Dore labeled the progressive lawmakers “frauds.”
That rhetoric rankled other left-leaning commentators, like Sam Seder, who participated in a three-hour livestreamed debate with Gray on a Friday night last month. Seder, a veteran progressive host, argued that it was unproductive to attack Ocasio-Cortez over what he considered a bogus litmus test, saying that Dore “used it as a weapon to create a wedge” between progressive voters and lawmakers like “the Squad.” “It alienated people,” Seder said on his show last month, a few days after his debate with Gray. “I don’t know that I ever publicly dissed ‘force the vote’—I certainly didn’t—until Jimmy started saying that AOC was the reason we don’t have ‘Medicare for All.’”
Other critics like [Ryan] Grim [of The Intercept] saw little value in holding a floor vote on a bill that had no chance of passing.
That rhetoric rankled other left-leaning commentators, like Sam Seder, who participated in a three-hour livestreamed debate with Gray on a Friday night last month. Seder, a veteran progressive host, argued that it was unproductive to attack Ocasio-Cortez over what he considered a bogus litmus test, saying that Dore “used it as a weapon to create a wedge” between progressive voters and lawmakers like “the Squad.” “It alienated people,” Seder said on his show last month, a few days after his debate with Gray. “I don’t know that I ever publicly dissed ‘force the vote’—I certainly didn’t—until Jimmy started saying that AOC was the reason we don’t have ‘Medicare for All.’”
Other critics like [Ryan] Grim [of The Intercept] saw little value in holding a floor vote on a bill that had no chance of passing.
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In the end, the “force the vote” campaign failed to break through in the mainstream press. The dust from that debate is only just now beginning to settle, and Grim said he’s vowed to stop debating it because it’s gotten so toxic.
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Still, the opposition to the “force the vote” left Gray vexed, not least because some insisted that it might result in Pelosi being replaced by Republican Kevin McCarthy as speaker. That was always an exceedingly unlikely scenario given that being elected to the post requires a majority of votes in the currently Democratic-controlled House.
But most of all, Gray is disappointed by what she sees as a deferential posture on the left that preserves a status quo the likes of Ocasio-Cortez were elected to shatter. If they won’t take the fight to Republicans and the Democratic establishment, Gray will take the fight to them. “My job is not to protect ‘the Squad’ and their careers,” she said.
But most of all, Gray is disappointed by what she sees as a deferential posture on the left that preserves a status quo the likes of Ocasio-Cortez were elected to shatter. If they won’t take the fight to Republicans and the Democratic establishment, Gray will take the fight to them. “My job is not to protect ‘the Squad’ and their careers,” she said.
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2021/02/briahna-joy-gray-wants-to-upend-democrats-political-strategy
51 replies
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“My Job Is Not to Protect ‘the Squad’”: Briahna Joy Gray Wants to Upend Democrats’ Political Strategy
The Bernie Sanders vet and progressive host envies the right-wing media’s ability to drive messages and corral Republican lawmakers—as a recent “Medicare for All” podcast push showed the limits of the left’s clout in Congress.
By Tom Kludt
February 18, 2021
The Bernie Sanders vet and progressive host envies the right-wing media’s ability to drive messages and corral Republican lawmakers—as a recent “Medicare for All” podcast push showed the limits of the left’s clout in Congress.
By Tom Kludt
February 18, 2021
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2021/02/briahna-joy-gray-wants-to-upend-democrats-political-strategy
It's evidence of a lack of vision, insight, and understanding. I never used the word "stupid" concerning Gray. You did.
People who expect to sit at the head of the table need to first earn a seat of the table. That anyone who disdains the Democratic Party expects to shape the strategies of that party speaks of obtuse entitlement.
The same purblind Gray who tagged Donald Trump to affirm a lie he told about Democrats during a general election debate now expects to have her divisive tactics taken seriously by a party she attacks at every turn.
And when they're not, she finds new Democrats to slander.
(including progressives) who do not adopt unsolicited "strategies", you are certainly correct in saying that Gray and I take different paths.
The judgement of anyone who follows her lead deserves close scrutiny.
have a shite 3rd party voting for jill stein track record.
unless they take up the difficult work of governing,
Actually, Pelosi and Schumer would have been better examples. They are the ones who are taking the lead and getting things done and shouldn't be marginalized as though they don't exist, or as though they're ineffective. Fact of the matter is that they do exist, they are effective, they have many more legislative achievements under their belts and many more feathers in their caps. How about some credit where credit is due?
mind Gaslighting the Universe.
hear herself?
