House Speaker Nancy Pelosi downplayed the progressive wing of the Democratic Party in an interview with CBS’s “60 Minutes” Sunday.
“So you are contending with a group in Congress: Over here on the left flank are these self-described socialists, on the right, these moderates,” Stahl said. “And you yourself said that you’re the only one who can unify everybody. And the question is can you?”
Pelosi responded, “By and large, whatever orientation they came to Congress with, they know that we have to hold the center. That we have to be m– go down the mainstream.”
Pelosi said the leftward push by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and other freshman Democrats was not significantly influencing the party.
"You have these wings, AOC and her group on one side," Stahl told Pelosi.
"That's like five people," the California Democrat shot back.
"No, it's the progressive group, it's more than five," Stahl pushed back.
Pelosi then reminded the CBS host that she, too, identifies as a progressive but "reject[s] socialism as an economic system."
"If people have that view, that's their view," she said. "That is not the view of the Democratic Party."
Can the Speaker of the House unify the Democratic party while getting pushback from the left and self-described democratic socialists like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez? https://t.co/f4VUYTYIdw pic.twitter.com/a9wOobPj5g
— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) April 14, 2019
The Congressional Progressive Caucus has 98 members. There are only seven House Democrats supported by progressive group Justice Democrats, however, which is what Pelosi may have been alluding to.