Jeffries: 'I don't support' DSA agenda

Hakeem Jeffries wants you to know he's not a socialist. Fine, noted. But watch what he's actually doing here: he's drawing a distinction between "the DSA agenda as articulated by the DSA itself" and, presumably, the same policies once they've been laundered through his own caucus. That's not a principled break, it's a branding exercise.

The timing gives it away. This statement comes right after democratic socialists and DSA-aligned candidates have been winning primary after primary. If Jeffries actually opposed what these candidates stand for, he'd be recruiting against them, funding their opponents, spending real capital to stop the drift. Instead we get a Sunday show soundbite that lets him have it both ways with the base that's paying attention and the swing voters he needs come November.

This is the same move Democratic leadership has run for years. Let the energy and the organizing muscle come from the socialist left, bank the primary wins, then have the guy in the blue tie go on television and insist the party isn't really like that. Voters in swing districts deserve to know whether the Democratic Party is being steered by people who call themselves socialists or not, and a carefully worded disclaimer from Jeffries doesn't answer that question. It just postpones it until after the votes are counted.