The progressive Democrat ‘squad’ and Pelosi need to find a way to get along – but Trump is the danger

Politics Explained: Democrats face a bumpy road in reconciling their young future leaders with their present but the biggest danger is the president

When the Democrats took control of the House of Representatives last year, they were quick to play up how diverse their new intake of Congresswomen and men were.

Front and centre of that were “the squad” – Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ilhan Omar from Minnesota, Michigan’s Rashida Tlaib and Ayanna Pressley from Massachusetts – a group of new, staunchly progressive representatives of colour who threw the white men of the GOP into sharp relief.

Nancy Pelosi and the rest of the Democrat leadership were quick to bask in the reflected glory of these historic new representatives and their large social media followings – but then the trouble started.

The squad were voted into office on a progressive platform and made sure their voices were heard on issues like the climate crisis, low wages and immigration. The issue was that inexperience in Washington can be a double-edged sword – exuberance and a desire to get things down should be lauded, but more experienced hands will not appreciate the apple cart being thrown over.

Hence Pelosi’s reaction that the group of progressives only contain four House votes – despite their social media followings. The leading Democrat in the House has made her irritation at the squad and its need to push its policies quite clear. With congressional seats up for grabs in 2020, Pelosi has been keen to keep moderate Democrats from being dragged into the same fights as the progressives.

When Ocasio-Cortez questioned why Pelosi was chastising newly elected women of colour, the Congressional Black Caucus was quick to defend the house speaker. Such infighting is music to the ears of Republicans who have had to contend with the myriad of fall-outs and firings that have marked Donald Trump’s White House.

It will also not help the four congresswomen – if they aim to pull the party left, even the suggestion Pelosi could have a racial bias (even though Ocasio-Cortez has refuted this) will only backfire. There is a generational and ideological split in the Democrats, but both sides have to be careful how it is handled. The transition to the future of the party will likely be a bumpy one.

The biggest winner is actually Trump. While his racist tweets attacking the four progressives have brought the Democratic Party together in condemnation, it has also ensured he can lump the whole party in with Ocasio-Cortez, Omar, Tlaib and Pressley.

The president would actually prefer this as it plays into the ways he energises his supporter base. If Trump can paint the Democrats as one amorphous unit that is socialist, soft on crime and immigration and liable to “destroy the country” – essentially a caricature – the more likely his right-wing supporters will rush to the ballot box.

Steve Bannon told The American Prospect in 2017 that if he could occupy the left with anything other than issues like the economy, Trump was always going to be set fair.

“The longer they talk about identity politics, I got ’em,” he said. “I want them to talk about racism every day. If the left is focused on race and identity, and we go with economic nationalism, we can crush the Democrats.”

Bannon may not be steering the ship any more but Trump is following the same pattern. While it would be wrong to suggest every one of the president’s angry utterances is part of a master plan, he knows how he won in 2016.

The four progressives said on Monday that people should not “take the bait” of Trump’s remarks. The Democrats should bear that advice in mind and keep an eye on 2020 and beyond.