A petition calling on House Democrats not to support House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries as the next Speaker has hit 500,000 signatures, according to its creator.
It follows the Democrats’ dramatic midterm election victory that saw the party flip both the Senate and the House of Representatives, which will lead to a new Senate Majority Leader and Speaker of the House.
The petition, which labels Jeffries part of the “Democratic establishment,” suggests Democratic leaders are likely to remain under pressure from their party’s left-wing over both personal and policy choices. It was created by Nicole Whitted, an author and Democratic supporting social media creator with over 210,000 followers on TikTok.
For those who don’t want to give newsweek a click: https://www.change.org/p/house-democrats-choose-a-new-speaker
Yeah, they should tabula rasa all of the old guard before moving forward.
And remember this little thing:
https://vger.to/lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/49344563
27 times different women have come forward and been ignored. The great orange one raped them.
This is becoming my copy pasta moment. But Hakeem Jeffries…let’s start with his charisma. His charisma is more akin to that of a Home Depot bag of paver sand. You search through the poorly stacked pile selecting the one with the least holes. Yet, despite that effort, it still spills it’s contents all over the cart on the way to the register. Not a good look. But useful if you are doing what he is good at doing. Laying the foundation for your country to get paved over by corporate donors.
If that does not speak for itself, then consider this. As a potential Speaker, Mr. Jeffries would face the immense challenge of uniting a fractured party that has not managed to maintain a large and diverse tent of voters since Debbie Wasserman Schultz declared Bernie a non-starter. Mr. Jeffries is simply not capable of standing firm in the face of political opposition. Don’t take my word for it. Perhaps, instead, the ever present consumer advocate Ralph Nader may sway you:
More introspection may lead you to ask yourself whether you are up to leading the House Democrats in their immense and immediate tasks of policy and program restorations and adopting our Constitution’s mandated Congressional independence from the Presidency for the protection and advancement of the livelihoods, peace and freedoms of the American people. There is no indication that you are so willing and prepared. Unfortunately.
His record in Congress has not demonstrated the kind of bold, decisive leadership that the position of Speaker demands. Instead, he has often been seen as a cautious, moderate voice. Dare I say, a voice coming from a very real human (I swear) with a spine made of NeeDoh.
Let’s be frank. In times of crisis or when tough decisions must be made, the leader of the Democratic Party and Speaker of the House is not merely about personality. I understand that. Such positions require a deep understanding of the legislative process, the ability to negotiate, and the resilience to withstand the political pressures that come with the position. Jeffries has not consistently shown these traits in his career. For any informed observers, this must raise serious questions about his suitability for such a high-stakes role.
Finally, to convey my firm belief that Mr. Jeffries is not the right person for the leadership role come January, I paraphrase the amazing Forest Whitaker in his role as PFC Edward Garlick in “Good Morning Vietnam”
Hakeem Jeffries sucks the sweat off a dead man’s balls. I have no idea what that means, sir, but it seems very negative to me.
As a part the change we need, Democrats need to move beyond the establishment. I signed it.
800,000 now
Jeffries says the agenda is not about “getting even”, what he’s really saying is he won’t allow any real accountability for criminals because they are fellow politicians. He’s clearly not fit for the job.
There is nothing in the rules that says the speaker has to be a member of the house, so I say we push for a speaker who will bring some accountability to the criminals throughout our government and demand that Democrats elect Jack Smith as Speaker of the House.
Let’s have Jon Stewart as Speaker of the House.
it’s got 800k (400k today) signs now anf it’s for holding an election which this article doesn’t say
Please, if you are in the US, contact your senators and representatives to urge them to choose better leaders than these milquetoast corporate dems.
He needs to go. Schumer too. They should no longer be allowed to “lead” us back to hell. i.e. trump.
These soft democratic leaders already showed us who they are, and I’m not interested. Get the Pelosi generation tf on out of here. Them and their stupid stock trading and dumb shit kneeling and wishy wishy nonsense.
Get rid of him and get rid of Schumer. Get rid of anyone who supports Israel in their genocide and their apartheid state.
Get rid
Every two years there is a vote for leadership…
Mainstream media immediately jumped on those two shitbirds as the default, but they have absolutely zero claim.
They don’t reflect the values of Dem voters, and they’re both shitty leaders. There is zero reason to give them leadership, or to keep determining committee chairs based solely off seniority.
People are so used to how neoliberals ran shit for 30 years, they forget there is absolutely nothing making the next congress follow those bullshit traditions.
The petition for Jeffries to not be speaker already has more than 5x as many votes as Jeffries had to get elected
The House Speaker should be AOC. Jeffries will hinder the Democrats for 2028.
The original concept of change.org was that average folks could petition leaders with the backing of many people. You didn’t earn money from petition-creation efforts.
According to the petition, “Nicole Whitted is a Change Ambassador who receives compensation in connection with this petition.”
I found myself wondering what a “Change Ambassador” was, search said, "Ambassadors receive a flat advance payment plus performance-based compensation—often ranging from $0.30 to $0.50 per signature collected over a specified period.
It seems that as of 2024, change.org has become a way to earn a small fortune. If she gets 50 cents for each signature, and this one hit half a million signatures, then she just made $250,000.
Currently 800k signatures and rising, so more then that.
I really need to get into grifting. It seems very profitable.
So this person made somewhere between $150-250k for posting this? How do I become a Change Ambassador?
e: You have to have a social following of >100k. You get an upfront payment based on audience size, then performance-based payouts for each petition on top of that.
But where does that moeny supposedly come from? Ads aren’t likely to generate that much per person signing.
It straight up asks you for money after you sign
But how many people give money? Very few. And of course I am sure the site takes a cut. I’m not saying there isn’t some payment. But the number seem off. Maybe it was .3 to .5 for paying signatures. That could work out.
I dunno. I could see campaigns being willing to pay a fair bit for a list of email addresses of people who care about a specific topic.
Thats a pretty good point. That might map out.
I didn’t know this was a thing, gross.
You also may not have realized that you would be on their email list for the rest of your life.
Filters and blocking takes care of 99% of my junk
If she gets 50 cents for each signature, and this one hit half a million signatures, then she just made $250,000.
That’s of course scummy as hell, but you know what?
If it leads to the permanent ouster from leadership of that corrupt demagogue with zero charisma or other redeeming qualities, I’d say she earned it and should get double if she can do the same thing to Schumer too 🤷🏻
I haven’t signed it, I have not decided that Jeffries is corrupt. I also find myself wondering about racism, whether that’s at play here. Further, republicans will now change their game, well come Jan 3, they’re lame duck now. Take down the democratic leadership?
I am seeing this petition being posted in a lot of threads I’m reading this morning. With 50 cents per signature, that’s a good incentive to spam it all over the place.
Well, corrupt or not, he has said he doesn’t support going after the corrupt individuals in the current administration. That is enough of a reason for me to not want him in that job.
if you haven’t made a decision yet about him being corrupted, you are either not paying attention or you are paying attention. either way your call that this is based on racism AND that we should not bother because republicans lost power anyways scream you are not being honest about your intentions.
Despite the downvotes, it sounds like you are responding in good faith. So I’ll say, I’ve been watching Jeffries for a long time, and he is not a fighter. He just makes tepid speeches for even more tepid action still.
I can say with rare confidence there’s no racism at play for me or the movement to oust him from leadership - everything I say about him is interchangeable with Schumer.
The bottom line is we need a wartime consigliere to seize this moment or we’ll backslide in two years, and Jeffries ain’t it.
I have not decided that Jeffries is corrupt
You haven’t decided that the Pacific Ocean is large either.
I also find myself wondering about racism, whether that’s at play here.
Fuck off with that bullshit. Jeffries is the hand picked protégé of Pelosi and in many ways is even more awful than her. His skin color and/or ethnicity has nothing to do with it.
republicans will now change their game
Bullshit. It’s not like they were passing much even WITH majorities in both chambers. Their main function was to not stop their Mango Messiah from constantly breaking the law.
In that aspect, ineffective and corrupt leaders like Jeffries and Schumer who haven’t ever met a fascist they don’t yearn to give concessions are not that different from the current fascists doing the same nothing because they support the crimes.
Take down the democratic leadership?
No. Replace them with others who actually represent the needs and wants of the majority of their constituency rather than the majority of donation dollars.
I am seeing this petition being posted in a lot of threads I’m reading this morning
Because a shitload of people agree that he’s an embarrassment in desperate need for replacement.
With 50 cents per signature, that’s a good incentive to spam it all over the place.
That’s only for the one who first posted it. Unless she’s illegally giving some posters a cut, nobody but she and the site are making any money from it being shared.
I was polite and respectful to you, and you tell me I’m full of bullshit, and don’t know the Pacific Ocean is large. That’s all I need to know I don’t ever want to see another post of yours. Adios.
I was polite and respectful to you
Not really, no.
you tell me I’m full of bullshit
Because you are.
and don’t know the Pacific Ocean is large
No, that was just my way of illustrating how obviously corrupt Jeffries is regardless of whether you’ve decided that it’s true.
That’s all I need to know I don’t ever want to see another post of yours. Adios.
I think I might manage to survive without your attention 🙄
If it’s truly a new political era, like the pundits have all claimed, then it stands to reason that we should embrace new leadership. I have very little faith in Schumer and Jefferies.
They let MAGA rise and re-rise, and they’ve done NOTHING since to demonstrate that they’ve earned or deserve a THIRD chance to fuck it up. It’s time for some competence in our government, and these two losers ain’t it.
This really should be the nail in the coffin for them. Even if you don’t think they’re corrupt factional warriors whose purpose is to stymie change, they’ve been in their positions forever and had no real successes to show for it.
At least Pelosi had the myth that she was a great vote counter and could wrangle representatives well. These two assholes are just incompetent losers.
I have very little faith in Schumer and Jefferies.
That’s still a little too much
