Right now, at this very moment, the United States government is committing crimes against humanity on its southern border at the command of a certifiable vulgar talking yam. The opposition party controls exactly one center of power in the tripartite government and two seats—occasionally, three—on the Supreme Court. And under the leadership of Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic leadership in the House of Representatives has chosen to do precisely squat about the situation, choosing instead to pick a fight with its youngest and most charismatic members who, by the way, are pretty much the only members of the House who have gone to see the atrocities first hand.

I tried to warn everyone that nothing good comes of spilling your guts to Maureen Dowd, but nobody listened. Instead, we have a public hooley between Pelosi and the group of left-leaning rookies made up of Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tialib, Ayanna Pressley, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. She keeps telling them to sit down and they keep telling her to get stuffed and then going down to the border to give witness to the ongoing atrocities there. I'm not seeing a lot of the Blue Dogs in Clint or McAllen. In fact, I'm not seeing the Speaker there much herself. The spat started when Pelosi, with no little reason, forced a vote on a border security bill produced by the Senate. She did so on a pledge by the administration* that it would not conduct massive immigration raids all over the country. Like every other promise from this administration, this one didn't age well.

Pelosi inexplicably took Trump at his word on the border bill. Tom Williams Getty Images

Pelosi resolutely refuses to consider opening even an impeachment inquiry, and Robert Mueller isn't going to force her hand next week, either. She even announced that Alex Acosta was solely a White House problem.

"It’s up to the president, it’s his cabinet. We have a great deal of work to do here for the good of the American people and we have to focus on that.”

What in the name of Uncle Joe Cannon is that supposed to mean? Acosta is the biggest fish in the smallest barrel. How about using him to give the White House a good solid kick in the 'nads? Wouldn't that be fun, at least? More fun, anyway, than picking Twitter beefs with some of your most popular colleagues while the kids are still in cages and the raids may begin Sunday. What was once leadership now stands as constant dereliction.

What was once leadership now stands as constant dereliction.

The real irony is that, when the Democrats took over the House in 2018, it wasn't these people who threatened Pelosi's speakership most seriously. It was the Tim Ryan-Seth Moulton crew, most of whom thought Pelosi was too far left for Ordinary Americans. Moreover, it was that same bunch who threatened to mutiny over the border security bill if the House didn't approve the Senate's more draconian measures. In addition, the same people on whom Pelosi is doing her drive-by's are under constant assault from the right-wing media apparatus. AOC drives them bughouse and, the other night on Fox, Tucker Carlson went on a rant about Omar that belonged on a Stormfront podcast, or on a short-wave set in the forests of Upper Michigan.

On Thursday, Pelosi was asked if she regretted what she'd said last week. This was her answer:

“I have no regrets about anything. Regrets is not what I do."

Kids are in cages. The raids may begin Sunday. The Speaker still has Maureen Dowd's phone number, so the kids in cages have that, anyway, and I'm sure it will come as a great comfort to the people who find their doors kicked in.

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Charles P. Pierce Charles P Pierce is the author of four books, most recently Idiot America, and has been a working journalist since 1976.

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