Dem leaders like Pelosi dragged their feet on immediate, real substantive aid while the economy was in free fall, routinely centered “small businesses ”, leaned on confusing UI (and barely took credit for it) and are now blaming BLM activists and “socialism” for tanking the House

Austerity obsessed Dem leadership bumbled around for weeks, never messaged the response clearly, pushed for a lockdown with minimal material support (but a heavy dose of scolding!) and offered zero universal solutions. Right out of the gate it was a mess-> https://jacobinmag.com/2020/03/coronavirus-gig-economy-contract-workers-policy

There was never any urgency, universal programs offered, rent or mortgage freezes, no sense of the human stakes. Just preemptive concessions, “deficit” concerns and perfunctory Republican blaming. And it was clear in March this is how it would play out https://m.soundcloud.com/citationsneeded/ep-105-pandemic-pelosi-and-the-people-we-consider-human

In the face of a mass trauma, economy in free fall, Dems had a chance to offer bold solutions, to assert themselves as the champion of those left behind but offered no such messaging, went weeks without a press conference and banked on a UI system no one understood.

But now their electoral failures are blamed on “defund the police” and the “socialism” label? It can never be leadership’s fault, they cannot fail they can only be failed

Recall: For the first 10 days of the crisis—while the economy was crashing and the Dow Jones had 2 of its worst 5 days in history—the primary mode of relief Pelosi offered was govt subsidized paid sick leave for companies w/ under 500 employees which only covered 20% of workers

There was supplemental SNAP funds and paltry UI thrown in but the whole relief package was a joke without any sense of the scale of human suffering, from the get-go it was nickel and dime and reactive to the scope of the crisis.

So yeah this is probably one of the reasons house democrats had a big fat dud last Tuesday, no one has any indication democrats are forceful advocates of the working class because Pelosi routinely does everything possible to give people the opposite impression

First week of the crisis. Can’t imagine why people wouldn’t get excited about a party whose leadership starts negotiating from a position of rote austerity dogma.