Drama from ‘The Squad’ frustrates colleagues, disrupts unity

House Democrats expressed frustration with “the Squad” after voting Wednesday to defend them from President Trump, saying they played right into Trump’s hands and don’t deserve that kind of support from House leaders they’ve criticized.

“Many are extremely frustrated,” CNN’s Jake Tapper reported in a Twitter thread Wednesday, based on conversations he had with Democrats on the Hill. They’re not as unified as their votes this week indicate, he said.

Several Democrats — from across the ideological spectrum — are growing tired of the repeated headlines involving four progressive congresswomen as the caucus tries to push its agenda. In conversations that took place before the President hosted a rally in North Carolina Wednesday night where the crowds chanted “send her home” in reference to Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Democrats said they want to keep the spotlight on the issues that got them elected, not a fight with the President.

One House Democrat told Tapper the showdown between the White House and “the Squad” served Trump’s interests. “The president won this one,” the unnamed Democrat said. “What the president has done is politically brilliant. Pelosi was trying to marginalize these folks and the president has now identified the entire party with them.”

Another House Democrat told Tapper the whole thing is distracting Democrats from the “bread and butter” issues they need to focus on to win in 2020. “We need to focus on the issues that got them here: jobs, health care … instead of the issues the president brings up deliberately,” the representative said. “Anything that takes away from bread and butter issues is playing into his hands.”

‘Squad’ tweets prompt outrage in the caucus

The tension within the party hit a boiling point last month over a border aid fight, one that ended with Pelosi ultimately siding with many more mainstream and moderate Democrats in the caucus over progressive objections. That decision riled up progressives to the point that one of its leaders, Rep. Mark Pocan, fired off a tweet comparing moderates to child abusers, and Ocasio-Cortez’s chief of staff posted a now-deleted tweet comparing moderate Democrats to segregationists.

“I can’t tell you the number of members who are angry and annoyed about them criticizing us,” said one House Democrat.

“Less than two weeks ago when members of our caucus were trying to support funds for children at the border,” progressives were arguing that “we’re pro-putting kids in cages, we’re against human rights. So there’s frustration,” said another House Democrat.

The message to the House Democrats: Getting drawn into fights with the President like the one they’re having on impeachment and the current one on race does not work well.