The war of words between House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the more left-leaning members of her caucus intensified on Wednesday during a closed door meeting during which the Democratic leader admonished freshmen members of Congress for their use of social media.
“Nancy Pelosi is more worried about people tweeting about her than the looming destruction of human civilization.”
—Kate Aronoff
According to reporting from Politico, Pelosi told members of her caucus that if they have problems they should come to her and not post publicly about their disagreements. A source in the room for the meeting told Politico that Pelosi delivered “stern” comments to members about the way they were handling fractures in the House.
“So, again, you got a complaint? You come and talk to me about it,” said Pelosi. “But do not tweet about our members and expect us to think that that is just ok.”
Critics of the Speaker were quick to point out that Pelosi gave an interview to New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd on July 6 in which the Speaker disparaged a number of members of her caucus, including Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.), Ayanna Pressley (Mass.), Rashida Tlaib (Mich.), and Ilhan Omar (Minn.), for their resistance to compromising with President Donald Trump’s war on immigrants.
“You got a problem? See Maureen Dowd,” wrote Splinter‘s Nick Martin. “Going off the past couple weeks, that seems to be the new complaint policy.”
Others appropriately took to Twitter to vent their frustration at the Speaker’s behavior.
Journalist Kate Aronoff questioned Pelosi’s priorities.
“Nancy Pelosi is more worried about people tweeting about her than the looming destruction of human civilization,” said Aronoff.
Boston-based activist Jonathan Cohn cited the support Pelosi had from progressive members of the caucus when members of the party attempted to force a change in leadership in January.
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