The political center of both parties is pushing back further against the far-right and far-left fringes, reflecting weariness and exasperation with threats to oust President Mike Johnson (R-La.) from office and the ongoing clashes with pro-Palestinian protesters on college campuses across the country.
The House’s overwhelming vote in favor of a foreign package that includes funding for Ukraine was a rebuke to Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), who now faces bipartisan opposition as she threatens to force an early House leadership election.
Johnson made it clear he lost patience with hard-line Tory critics when he put the Ukraine funding bill down and ignored warnings it could cost him his job.
House Republican lawmakers said Tuesday that Greene’s efforts to pressure Johnson are failing voters back home.
In a notable development, House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries (NY) announced that he and other Democrats would intervene to help Johnson defeat any motion put forward by conservatives to vacate his seat.
“I think people are tired of the chaos and dysfunction. So I congratulate all of our friends on both sides of the aisle in the House for… actually doing their jobs instead of all the sideshow,” said Senator John Cornyn (R-Texas), a member of the Senate leadership team.
“Republicans are, by and large, tired of all the antics and chaos, and they realize it is a political liability,” he added.
Vin Weber, GOP strategist and former member of House Republican leadership: “We are seeing a very strong backlash against the political process from the fringes of both parties,” said
“Even though we are from the other party, we are seeing in the Democratic leader’s reaction a leader,” he said of Jeffries’ decision to side with Johnson against the conservative insurgents at their conference.
And he praised Johnson for standing up to critics at his conference, pushing the foreign aid package through the House even though it put his job at risk.
This bold decision was validated by the strong vote its different components received from House Republicans, including 101 Republican legislators who voted in favor of funding Ukraine.
“I saw the Ukraine vote as a rebellion by the normies,” said Scott Jennings, a Republican Party strategist.
“I feel like you had an overwhelming bipartisan majority in both chambers who are tired of having their lives ruined and ruined by a small minority in the Republican conference,” he said. “None of these people were elected to go to Washington, D.C., so they may have their lives disrupted daily by Marjorie Taylor Greene. That’s not why they worked so hard to get into Congress or the U.S. Senate.”
Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) warned last week that Greene is “dragging our brand down.”
“She – not the Democrats – is the biggest risk to us returning to the majority,” he told CNN.
Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Tuesday condemned Columbia University protesters who broke windows and unfurled an “intifada flag” while occupying Hamilton Hall, located near the South Lawn of campus.
“Breaking windows with hammers and occupying university buildings is not freedom of expression. It’s illegal. And those who did this should immediately face consequences that are not just a slap in the face,” Schumer said on the Senate floor.
He was joined by Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.), who said the images of protesters breaking glass “brought further evidence that Columbia administrators have utterly failed to bring order to their Manhattan campus.”
Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) is helping lead the Democratic pushback against pro-Palestinian protesters whose rhetoric has morphed into anti-Semitism, forcing college campuses to close in the final weeks of the school year.
“It’s a great American value to protest, but I don’t think living in a tent for Hamas is really helpful,” Fetterman told NewsNation’s “The Hill Sunday.”
Fetterman broke with progressives in December by advocating “reasonable” border security negotiations and urged fellow Democrats to recognize the massive flow of migrants across the southern border.
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) is also receiving applause from centrists after facing criticism from the left by striking a major deal with Sens. James Lankford (R-Okla.) and Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) to give President Biden expanded new emergency powers to close the border.
Sen. Joe Manchin (DW.Va.) said this week he will sponsor a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution to overturn the Biden administration’s final rules on streamlining the environmental review process to speed up permitting of infrastructure upgrades .
Jonathan Kott, a Democratic strategist and former Manchin aide, said, “the political center is always where you win elections and how you govern.”
“The fringes are where you get Twitter followers and cable news hits,” he said. “When you truly govern responsibly and are elected, the middle is where it is.”
Kott said Fetterman “is speaking his mind and what he believes about a very difficult issue and should be commended for being able to not be held hostage on one side of the ideological spectrum.”
Some Democrats are increasingly worried that their party could lose support in November if voters associate it with chaos on college campuses across the country or the border crisis.
“This election will be decided in the middle, not on the fringes,” said Jim Kessler, executive vice president for policy at Third Way, a centrist Democratic think tank.
“John Fetterman has been fantastic not just on the campus protests, but also on the border and also on energy policy,” he said.
Fetterman expressed concern that President Biden’s pause on natural gas imports could impact jobs in Pennsylvania.
But Fetterman has been more outspoken about Israel’s right to defend itself after the October 7 attacks.
“I don’t know who needs to hear this, but blocking a bridge or berating people at Starbucks isn’t fair, it just makes you an idiot. Demand that Hamas send all hostages home and surrender,” he posted on the social media site X, responding to a video of protesters waving a Palestinian flag and yelling at customers at a Starbucks in Ann Arbor.
Third Way’s Kessler said Democrats have a lot on their plate in 2024, such as important legislation investing in infrastructure and renewable energy technologies, but warned that pro-Palestinian protesters on the far left could spoil the election.
“What is happening on college campuses has gone too far. A lot of this attracts media attention,” he said.
“The Biden administration has a lot to trumpet, including a precipitous drop in the homicide rate, record oil and gas drilling, and record permitting. These cannot be state secrets. They are popular with voters,” she added.
“We have seen in the past that something that happens on the left completely ruins the Democrats’ electoral chances. Defund the police. Abolish ICE. This has hurt Democrats in the past. We cannot allow the unrest on university campuses to do this to us again,” he warned.
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
