The Democratic Party was sorely divided by the 2016 battle between Clinton and Sanders. When Tom Perez took over as Democratic National Committee (DNC) chairman earlier this year, he promised to heal the wounds and unite the party.
Of course, when someone as far-left as Tom Perez says “unite the party,” it really means “toe the line or get out.” This is, after all, the man who said that the party’s pro-abortion stance was “not negotiable and should not change city by city or state by state.” It should come as no surprise that Perez’s idea of “uniting” the party was to purge it.
The Self-Destructive Left
The Democratic Party and the left in general haven’t exactly taken it easy on themselves lately. As the opposition, you would think they could unite in the fight against Trump and the Republican majorities in both Congressional houses.
Perhaps that would be true if they were actually making any progress on that front. However, as we’ve seen in the 2016 presidential election and the various special elections, such as those in Georgia and Alabama, both Democrats and Establishment GOP politicians are failing. Apparently, Donald Trump wasn’t a fluke, and it looks like these outsider conservatives are here to stay.
Sadly, when it became evident that the left couldn’t defeat this movement, they turned on each other. Like the legendary Ouroboros eating its own tail, the Democratic Party has turned its aggression inward and is now cannibalizing itself. We saw this when California Dem. Lisa Sanchez called for Nancy Pelosi and others to step down – so she could have her turn in the spotlight, of course.
The Great DNC Purge
Since Tom Perez took over, the DNC has demoted, or even completely ousted, several longstanding party officials and replaced them with more “diverse” leadership. Shortly after he began his purge, Perez faced complaints about his appointments to committees and his roster of 75 “at-large” members. One of those ousted by Perez, Barbra Casbar Siperstein, said: “I can’t speak for Tom, but you talk about diversity – I’m extremely diverse: Jewish, veteran, transgender, lesbian, grandparent, small-business owner.”
Indeed, the problem wasn’t a lack of diversity, but rather the opposite. The DNC appointments now show far more Hillary Clinton and Tom Perez supporters than anyone else. The DNC denies that the purge was a form of retaliation against those who supported Bernie Sanders for president or Keith Ellison for DNC chair. However, it seems they were the only ones cut. ABC reports:
Those who have been pushed out include:
Ray Buckley, the New Hampshire Democratic chairman and longtime DNC official who ran against Perez for chair before backing Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn. Buckley lost his spots on the Executive Committee and DNC Rules Committee.
James Zogby, the president of the Arab American Institute and prominent Sanders backer, is no longer co-chair of the Resolutions Committee and is off the Executive Committee, a spot he has held since 2001.
Alice Germond, the party’s longtime former secretary and a vocal Ellison backer, who was removed from her at-large appointment to the DNC.
Barbra Casbar Siperstein, who supported Ellison and Buckley, was tossed from the Executive Committee.
There are many others, but these top officials were given the boot for no apparent reason other than that they supported the wrong person last year. Alice Germond, for example, had been a prominent member of the DNC since the 1980s, but in backing Ellison over Perez, it seems she signed her own pink slip.
As the left continues to tear itself apart in the name of unity and the DNC of Tom Perez drifts farther from the norm, the nature of American politics will continue to change – and it looks like it’s only getting more divisive. The 2016 presidential election presented voters with entirely diametrical options. What will we see in 2020?
