So this is how it was supposed to work: Red-district Democrats, hammered by Republicans over their supposed future support for scaaaaary liberal Nancy Pelosi, would announce their refusal to vote for her. Zero votes would be convinced one way or the other, and Republicans would continue making that claim, but whatever. It made those Red-district Democrats feel better.
Pelosi, for her part, knew of this tactic and approved it. She has always been tactical, looking for the best ways to get Democrats elected. And if people had to refuse to support her? She didn’t care.
Those new Democrats were then supposed to show up in the House, and then not vote for Pelosi. And no one would care because they’d vote “present” instead. Some of the most endangered might vote for some random other person (it happens every cycle), but again, no one would give a shit. It’d be all theater.
But then the #FiveWhiteGuys led by Reps. Tim Ryan and Seth Moulton decided to make a big freakin’ show of their Pelosi opposition. And suddenly, battle lines have been drawn. People are paying attention to who votes for what. And now, a bunch of Red-state Democrats who would’ve gotten their free pass “no” vote for Pelosi are in the spotlight, with media conducting public whip counts.
With prominent rebels now defecting, now’s the time for the #FiveWhiteGuys to hang things up. Let whoever needs to quietly vote “present” vote present, let Pelosi engineer a few “no” votes to protect vulnerable members, and stop turning this into a litmus test intra-party battle in the wake of historic victories.
Except for the original #FiveWhiteGuys. We’ll see you in primaries in 2020.