Harris Defeat Signals Waning Influence Of Top Dems: Report
President-elect Donald Trump’s decisive victory over Vice President Kamala Harris appears to mark the beginning of the end for the influence of long-standing Democratic leaders like former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California.
According to the UK’s DailyMail.com, Pelosi, “who for decades reigned as kingmaker in her party, [now] faces the prospect of having her status as a power player in the party unceremoniously stripped away on the back of” Harris’s loss. This unexpected decline follows Pelosi’s notable involvement in pushing President Joe Biden to step down from the race earlier this year.
At 84, Pelosi was reportedly emotional as she watched Harris’s concession speech at Howard University on Wednesday. The outlet reported that she was later seen in a tense conversation with fellow Democratic strategist and former DNC Chair Donna Brazile.
With Democrats searching for answers after Harris’s unexpected defeat, Pelosi has found herself at the center of the finger-pointing, as DailyMail.com observed.
“The influences of a [Senate Majority Leader Chuck] Schumer or a Pelosi or a movie star or an Obama deciding to anoint somebody – those guys are gone,” remarked business investor and Shark Tank star Kevin O’Leary, suggesting that figures like actor George Clooney, who publicly urged Biden to end his reelection campaign, may no longer hold the same sway. “In four years, they won’t have that kind of influence,” he added.
Some Republicans attribute the Democrats’ steep losses—including the Senate flipping red and the House still contested—directly to Pelosi’s leadership. Former GOP House Speaker and fellow Californian Kevin McCarthy stated on Fox News, “You’ve got to blame Nancy Pelosi.”
McCarthy noted Pelosi’s role in Biden’s withdrawal from the race in July, a decision made just months before Election Day. He argued this move undermined the democratic process, given that primary voters had cast ballots for Biden, only to see Harris take his place as the nominee.
“Joe Biden never should have run for office. I knew it when I sat with him. There was something wrong with him,” McCarthy remarked.
Meanwhile, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez expressed strong concerns about Trump’s win, echoing what some view as the Democratic Party’s rhetoric of fear. She warned about an era of “fascism” and “authoritarianism,” predicting serious implications ahead.
In a message to her followers, Ocasio-Cortez shared her concerns as Trump’s win became evident, saying, “I’m not here to sugarcoat what we all are about to collectively experience.” She encouraged building “community” as a form of preparation, adding, “We don’t have a choice. Our choice is to build. Our choice is to continue to fight. Our choice is to win. Our choice is to have each other.”
She further elaborated, “We are about to enter a political period that will have consequences for the rest of our lives. We cannot give up,” invoking a sense of historical precedent: “We now find ourselves in a time in history that has precedent… where there are, let’s say, peers in history of mass movements of people that mobilize to protect one another in times of fascism and authoritarianism. And this is the era that we are poised to enter,” she claimed, though without specific evidence.
Ocasio-Cortez voiced concerns about Trump’s previous remarks on using the military against “domestic political enemies,” stating, “Authoritarians and people that he affiliates closely with and strongmen abroad in regimes like that… often jail political dissidents or legislative opponents. This is the world that we very realistically may be entering.” She advocated for building “a very strong social fabric and social infrastructure” to counteract these fears.
It’s important to note that U.S. law outlines clear restrictions on domestic military use. While Trump, as president, would serve as commander-in-chief, the military cannot carry out illegal orders.