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| ‘The Squad’ Rankles but Pelosi and Ocasio-Cortez Make Peace for Now | ‘The Squad’ Rankles but Pelosi and Ocasio-Cortez Make Peace for Now |
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| WASHINGTON — Six days after Democrats swept to power in the House, a quartet of newly elected women of color met in Washington for the first time. Somebody snapped a picture and one of them — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — posted it on Instagram. | WASHINGTON — Six days after Democrats swept to power in the House, a quartet of newly elected women of color met in Washington for the first time. Somebody snapped a picture and one of them — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — posted it on Instagram. |
| Like the millennial that she is, she tagged it with a flip one-word caption: Squad. | Like the millennial that she is, she tagged it with a flip one-word caption: Squad. |
| Today that foursome — Representatives Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ayanna S. Pressley of Massachusetts, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan — may be Washington’s best-known political clique. But their strident brand of progressive politics and command of publicity rankles some fellow Democrats, including Speaker Nancy Pelosi. | Today that foursome — Representatives Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ayanna S. Pressley of Massachusetts, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan — may be Washington’s best-known political clique. But their strident brand of progressive politics and command of publicity rankles some fellow Democrats, including Speaker Nancy Pelosi. |
| On Friday morning, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez was holed up in the speaker’s office, trying to make amends. | On Friday morning, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez was holed up in the speaker’s office, trying to make amends. |
| “In a family you have your differences, but you’re still family,” Ms. Pelosi told reporters later. She acknowledged “some personality issues,” although she described them as “minor.” To underscore the point, she posted a photograph of herself and a smiling Ms. Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter. | “In a family you have your differences, but you’re still family,” Ms. Pelosi told reporters later. She acknowledged “some personality issues,” although she described them as “minor.” To underscore the point, she posted a photograph of herself and a smiling Ms. Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter. |
| Lionized by the liberal left and vilified by the right, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez and the others roared into Washington in January as part of the most diverse freshman class in American history, and quickly emerged as a proxy for the debate over the future of the Democratic Party. They do not always vote the same way — Ms. Pressley broke with the others this week in voting for a resolution condemning the boycott Israel movement — but they are closely aligned on immigrants’ rights issues. They ran afoul of Ms. Pelosi by voting as a bloc against a package of humanitarian aid for the border, which they deemed insufficient to protect children in detention. | Lionized by the liberal left and vilified by the right, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez and the others roared into Washington in January as part of the most diverse freshman class in American history, and quickly emerged as a proxy for the debate over the future of the Democratic Party. They do not always vote the same way — Ms. Pressley broke with the others this week in voting for a resolution condemning the boycott Israel movement — but they are closely aligned on immigrants’ rights issues. They ran afoul of Ms. Pelosi by voting as a bloc against a package of humanitarian aid for the border, which they deemed insufficient to protect children in detention. |
| People close to them say they have forged genuine friendships and a close bond. They communicate regularly via a private text chain, as do their chiefs of staff and their communications directors. On occasion, their offices plot strategy together and coordinate media appearances, including a joint news conference last week and an interview with Gayle King of CBS News in response to a relentless campaign by President Trump to paint them as anti-American. All declined interviews for this article. | People close to them say they have forged genuine friendships and a close bond. They communicate regularly via a private text chain, as do their chiefs of staff and their communications directors. On occasion, their offices plot strategy together and coordinate media appearances, including a joint news conference last week and an interview with Gayle King of CBS News in response to a relentless campaign by President Trump to paint them as anti-American. All declined interviews for this article. |
| “What we are, are four women who have an alignment of values, shared policy priorities, who have repeatedly happened to land in the same place on the issue of immigration,” Ms. Pressley told Ms. King. “That is it. There is no insurgency here. There’s nothing conspiratorial.” | “What we are, are four women who have an alignment of values, shared policy priorities, who have repeatedly happened to land in the same place on the issue of immigration,” Ms. Pressley told Ms. King. “That is it. There is no insurgency here. There’s nothing conspiratorial.” |
| Mr. Trump’s attacks — in a tweet earlier this month, he told the women to “go back” to their home countries even though only one of them, Ms. Omar, a Somali refugee, was born outside the United States — prompted Democrats to defend them. The House voted to condemn the president’s comments as racist, and even moderates like Representative Dutch Ruppersberger, a centrist from Maryland who had trouble remembering Ms. Omar’s name, stood behind them. | Mr. Trump’s attacks — in a tweet earlier this month, he told the women to “go back” to their home countries even though only one of them, Ms. Omar, a Somali refugee, was born outside the United States — prompted Democrats to defend them. The House voted to condemn the president’s comments as racist, and even moderates like Representative Dutch Ruppersberger, a centrist from Maryland who had trouble remembering Ms. Omar’s name, stood behind them. |
| “I said, ‘Look, you don’t know me; we’ve only met once or twice,” Mr. Ruppersberger said, recounting a conversation with Ms. Omar after Mr. Trump’s tweet. “But I can tell you this: ‘I’m behind you 100 percent.’” | “I said, ‘Look, you don’t know me; we’ve only met once or twice,” Mr. Ruppersberger said, recounting a conversation with Ms. Omar after Mr. Trump’s tweet. “But I can tell you this: ‘I’m behind you 100 percent.’” |
| Still, Mr. Ruppersberger said he and other moderates were wary of the women, fearing they would push primary challengers to run against them. And the four did not make a good impression when they arrived, he said. “What caused the problem is they were coming after members who were not like themselves, who were not progressive, were moderate,” he said. “I think when the new generation comes in, sometimes they don’t understand what it is to be in the majority.” | Still, Mr. Ruppersberger said he and other moderates were wary of the women, fearing they would push primary challengers to run against them. And the four did not make a good impression when they arrived, he said. “What caused the problem is they were coming after members who were not like themselves, who were not progressive, were moderate,” he said. “I think when the new generation comes in, sometimes they don’t understand what it is to be in the majority.” |
| All four landed in Washington as firsts. Ms. Pressley, the first black woman to represent Massachusetts, is joined by Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, who in addition to being the youngest woman ever elected to Congress is the first Latina to represent her district. Ms. Omar is a Somali refugee, and she and Ms. Tlaib, who is of Palestinian descent, are the first two Muslim women in Congress. | All four landed in Washington as firsts. Ms. Pressley, the first black woman to represent Massachusetts, is joined by Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, who in addition to being the youngest woman ever elected to Congress is the first Latina to represent her district. Ms. Omar is a Somali refugee, and she and Ms. Tlaib, who is of Palestinian descent, are the first two Muslim women in Congress. |
| The four are the only freshmen elected with the backing of Justice Democrats, a grass-roots organizing group that burst onto the scene last year after orchestrating Ms. Ocasio-Cortez’s stunning primary defeat of Joe Crowley, a member of the Democratic leadership. | The four are the only freshmen elected with the backing of Justice Democrats, a grass-roots organizing group that burst onto the scene last year after orchestrating Ms. Ocasio-Cortez’s stunning primary defeat of Joe Crowley, a member of the Democratic leadership. |
| “These are four women of color who speak truth to power, who do not want to maintain the status quo and are going to fight like hell, like they have nothing to lose, for the biggest solutions to some of our biggest problems,” Alexandra Rojas, Justice Democrats’ executive director, said in an interview. “They are all doing exactly what they said they were going to be doing on the campaign trail.” | “These are four women of color who speak truth to power, who do not want to maintain the status quo and are going to fight like hell, like they have nothing to lose, for the biggest solutions to some of our biggest problems,” Alexandra Rojas, Justice Democrats’ executive director, said in an interview. “They are all doing exactly what they said they were going to be doing on the campaign trail.” |
| Although the four women share political ideology, they also came together in part because of happenstance. A bipartisan group called VoteRunLead, which trains women to run for office and was meeting in New York, asked the women to sit for a joint Facebook Live interview when they were in Washington after the 2018 midterm elections in November, when the photo posted on Instagram of them was taken. VoteRunLead’s founder, Erin Vilardi, said she would have included another progressive woman of color — Representative Lauren Underwood of Illinois — in the interview, had Ms. Underwood been available at that hour. | |
| “The four of them are unique and I would include Lauren Underwood in that,” Ms. Vilardi said. “They’re challenging norms on leadership and what it means to be a strong leader.” | “The four of them are unique and I would include Lauren Underwood in that,” Ms. Vilardi said. “They’re challenging norms on leadership and what it means to be a strong leader.” |
| Moderates are not the only Democrats who are nervous about them — or at least the group that backs them. Justice Democrats is also targeting some veteran members of the Congressional Black Caucus, several who had complained openly about the group — and by implication, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, whose chief of staff is a founder of it — in an article in The Hill newspaper. At the same time, Mr. Trump’s efforts to make the women the face of the Democratic Party have raised expectations about how they should behave. | Moderates are not the only Democrats who are nervous about them — or at least the group that backs them. Justice Democrats is also targeting some veteran members of the Congressional Black Caucus, several who had complained openly about the group — and by implication, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, whose chief of staff is a founder of it — in an article in The Hill newspaper. At the same time, Mr. Trump’s efforts to make the women the face of the Democratic Party have raised expectations about how they should behave. |
| “They have been thrust into the middle of a debate about the heart and soul of this country and that does carry with it a unique set of responsibilities,” said Representative Tom Malinowski, a centrist Democrat from New Jersey. “He has now put them in a very special position. It would be my hope that all of us, wherever we fall on the ideological spectrum, will advance our agenda while embracing in every possible way the patriotism that we share with all of our fellow Americans.” | “They have been thrust into the middle of a debate about the heart and soul of this country and that does carry with it a unique set of responsibilities,” said Representative Tom Malinowski, a centrist Democrat from New Jersey. “He has now put them in a very special position. It would be my hope that all of us, wherever we fall on the ideological spectrum, will advance our agenda while embracing in every possible way the patriotism that we share with all of our fellow Americans.” |
| In an opinion piece in The New York Times published Thursday, Ms. Omar tried to do just that, issuing a call to defend the “ideals at the heart of our founding — equal protection under the law, pluralism, religious liberty,” even as she took Mr. Trump to task. | In an opinion piece in The New York Times published Thursday, Ms. Omar tried to do just that, issuing a call to defend the “ideals at the heart of our founding — equal protection under the law, pluralism, religious liberty,” even as she took Mr. Trump to task. |
| “Throughout history, demagogues have used state power to target minority communities and political enemies, often culminating in state violence,” she wrote. “Today, we face that threat in our own country, where the president of the United States is using the influence of our highest office to mount racist attacks on communities across the land.” | “Throughout history, demagogues have used state power to target minority communities and political enemies, often culminating in state violence,” she wrote. “Today, we face that threat in our own country, where the president of the United States is using the influence of our highest office to mount racist attacks on communities across the land.” |