This week, CNN hosted a town hall event with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA). She was asked by Laura Wilkerson, whose son Joshua was tortured and murdered by an illegal alien, which of her grandchildren would be considered expendable due to her support for sanctuary cities? Pelosi offered words of sympathy before doling out the talking point that this policy is aimed to help fight crime by allowing illegals to report felonious activity without fear of deportation. Yeah—offering a shield to those who broke the law to help us find other people who have…broken the law is asinine, but that's a debate for another time.
Yet, there was also a young left wing voter, Trevor Hill of New York University, who asked the House leader why the Democratic Party, that has moved left on social issues, isn’t moving in that direction on economic ones. Reportedly, CNN didn’t want Hill to ask that question. The Huffington Post wrote that the news network wanted the NYU sophomore to ask a softball question, but decided to ignore them.
Hill first heard about the town hall from a friend who had been contacted by a CNN producer, he recalled in an interview with The Huffington Post. He submitted the same question he ended up asking on live television ? almost verbatim.“According to a Harvard University poll last May, 51% of young voters between the ages of 18 and 29 no longer support capitalism. The Democratic Party inarguably failed to inspire young leftists during this election cycle, who voted in overwhelming numbers for the farther left candidate during the presidential primary elections,” Hill wrote in an email to a CNN producer. “What is the Democratic Party going to change going forward in order to capture and inspire the new generations of leftists who feel as though the party is failing to stand up for left wing economic values?”
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“But they seemed interested in my biographical information that I had given them,” Hill said. “So they emailed me back, asked for a picture and stuff. And then they asked me, ‘Oh, do you want to know anything a little more personal about her? Maybe you could submit some extra questions.’”
Hill agreed to submit two questions that he characterized as “fluffy.” CNN selected one Hill had drafted based on the HBO comedy series “Veep.”
He recalled the question he was supposed to ask: “One of my favorite TV programs is the HBO show ‘Veep.’ In the show, Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ character is subjected to a lot of ridiculous and embarrassing campaign events by her staff that she doesn’t enjoy in order to secure votes. I was wondering if you could relate to us a time when maybe you felt ridiculous or embarrassed on the campaign trail and if there is anyone you would like to call out for putting you in that situation?”
Hill decided not to pose the query, however, because he was more interested in whether Pelosi thought Democrats should embrace a more progressive economic platform.
The liberal publication added that CNN didn’t dispute the story. In all, he wanted to know if the party was going to move in a more populist direction in the same fashion the GOP has with President Trump.
“I thank you for your question. But I have to say, we’re capitalist and that’s just the way it is,” replied Pelosi.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) gave Clinton a run for her money, though his dismal performance in the southern primary states gave Clinton a delegate advantage that he couldn’t overcome. The final nail in the coffin was the I-95, or Acela corridor, primaries that pretty much sealed the deal for both Clinton and Trump in their respective primaries. Sanders did better than anyone could project and he stoked the enthusiasm and passion of key members of the Obama coalition, specifically young voters. As Democrats venture into the political wilderness, they’re left with no leader who could do exactly what Hill is asking them to do. Sanders could be too old to run by 2020. The Castro brothers—Joaquin and Julian—from Texas are still relatively unknown. Hillary Clinton is finished. Joe Biden could be too old as well.
It seems the Democratic Party needs to find a new batch of leaders, retool their messaging, and reconnect with working class Americans before they get to the question of whether to march to the left of Lenin on the economy.
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