JASON CHAFFETZ: Democrats desperately need Nancy Pelosi to take charge

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., is no Nancy Pelosi.

The 85-year-old former House speaker from California is retiring, and the Democratic Party is baffled about its future. "Expand the tent" is its current trajectory, but at what cost? Turn it over to some who are not even registered Democrats?

Democrats lack message discipline. DNC fundraising is anemic. Traditional party gatekeepers have been sidelined as the flow of money and energy has been rerouted through the less regulated and less transparent NGO sector. Gone are the days when former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer could direct the flow of donor dollars away from the radical fringe.

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Say what you will about Pelosi’s iron grip on power. At least she understood how to cloak her party’s radicalism. She didn’t dance to New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s tune, refusing to grant the committee assignments that would elevate AOC’s fringe views. With her influence on the wane, Democrats at every level of government are having a messaging free-for-all.

The anti-American messaging of the Democrat Socialists of America (DSA) has infiltrated the Democratic Party, potentially forcing every candidate to answer uncomfortable questions. They’ll have to choose between alienating their base or alienating their swing voters.

The DSA platform seeks to replace, not just reform, the key pillars of American stability and prosperity, explicitly rejecting the Constitution. DSA seeks to abolish the Senate, the Electoral College, the presidency, the Supreme Court and other key features of federalism that check the balance of power.

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These are positions that would make any 1990-era Democrat shudder. Democrats now have to own DSA demands to eliminate the Department of War, leaving America defenseless. They demand we open our borders to unvetted and unlimited migration and pay for the healthcare costs of any global citizen who wishes to come to America.

It’s not just the federal races that are at risk for Democrats. Even at the state level, governors like Minnesota’s Tim Walz and California’s Gavin Newsom have incentivized unimaginable levels of fraud that they now seek to conceal.

At the local level, Sanders-endorsed New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani attempted to meet with America’s Iranian enemies during wartime. Mamdani calls out Israel while refusing to acknowledge the crimes of Hamas. He represents a wing of the party that hates America, hates law and order and hates punishment.

Who among Democrats can rein in the party’s excesses? Former Vice President Kamala Harris? Hardly. Her unsuccessful billion-dollar presidential campaign is likely a key source of the current donor fatigue. Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin has had to spend so much political capital cleaning up that mess that he has little to spare for 2026 races.

House and Senate Minority Leaders Hakeem Jeffries and Schumer do not wield the power that Pelosi once did. Their roles are precarious enough without offending the socialist wing of their party. AOC, though wildly popular with the far-left segment of the base, hasn’t shown the leadership skill to call out her own party when the waters get rough.

Poor candidate vetting continues to plague Democrats. The rape allegations against Sanders-endorsed Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner led to a repeat of President Joe Biden’s replacement primary process in which Democrats placed a candidate on the ballot without a single primary vote.

Without a unified message, a respected leader who can speak the truth internally, or a motivated donor base, Democrats will have only themselves to blame for their current chaotic state with no apparent way to abandon ship.

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The Democrats/socialists/communists claim to be a big tent party, but that’s a lame excuse and explanation to the electorate who wants to know where they stand on specific issues. Those are questions no candidate in the Democratic Party truly wants to answer.

Expose the radical truth and they lose the general public. Dismiss the socialists/communists, and they lose their base.

What they really want is for Nancy Pelosi to raise the money, tell them what to do and say, and deny a place for the radicals among them. But today, the radicals far outnumber the remnants of yesterday’s Democratic Party.

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