Dems debut their clown show strategy for the 216th Congress

Now that voters have handed them control of the House of Representatives, Democrats are forced to reveal who they are to the national electorate, and it ain't pretty. The party has more than its share of bizarre eccentrics, able to win a local election in a deep blue district, and they are feeling their oats. They thrive on media attention, which they get because they are colorful and young and say radical things that excite progressive journalists. But money and power remain in the hands of the gerontocracy branch of the party, headed by Nancy Pelosi, the shrewd power player who learned her craft at the knee of the political boss of Baltimore, her father, Tommy D'Alesandro, who knew a few things about money, power, and deal-making.

Her first speech as speaker of the House this term feigned stately grace (calling the Capitol a "temple of democracy," for instance) and bipartisanship fairly effectively, and she brought her grandkids to the podium at one point. However, her disturbing quirks as a public speaker were all too evident, even as she read her prepared speech. Listen to the bizarre giggles she cannot repress as she is being applauded. Anger and downright hatred for the sitting president of the United States powers most of the 40 newly elected members of the House Democratic Caucus, along with many veterans, including "Mad Max" Maxine Waters, slated to become chair of the House Financial Services Committee and very publicly committed to impeachment. Pelosi is shrewd enough to realize that impeachment without a smoking gun would be a disaster for Democrats, but that won't stop the Trump-haters, who believe they have momentum and support of the party's faithful. Eleven-term veteran Congressman Brad Sherman, of Ventura County, California, has already introduced articles of impeachment, and that's just the beginning of the ordeal Pelosi will have trying to rein in her crazies. Those crazies include another media darling, Rep. Rashida Tlaib, who chose Palestinian garb in which to take the oath of office, no doubt simultaneously pleasing the 19% of the American public that chooses to support the Palestinians over Israel, as well as the Republican Jewish Coalition. (See what I mean about the clown show now?)

Grabien screen grab. Perhaps because the Koran commands women to be modest, Rep. Tlaib eschewed sharia-compliant garb and wore more conventional clothing to tell her supporters (to wild cheers), "We're gonna go in and impeach the m‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑." The media wing of the Democratic Party will do its best to ignore the internal power struggle between the gerontocracy and the crazies that is going to consume the Democrats for the next two years. They will do as poor a job of that as they are at doing their purported role as objective journalists. And for the same reason: they are ideologues who deeply hate President Trump and Republicans. President Trump understands this. The man who created, ran, and starred in the most successful reality TV program in the history of the medium understands storylines and dramatic arcs. There are quite a few House Democrats lining up to play the role that Meat Loaf did on Celebrity Apprentice.