House Democrats’ Rashida Tlaib Problem

‘She was well-liked when she got to Congress. A lot of people don’t like her anymore.’

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Signs and notes left outside the Capitol Hill office of Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib in Washington, D.C., on November 8, 2023. (Photo by STEFANI REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images)

When the House of Representatives voted to censure progressive Rep. Rashida Tlaib on Tuesday, only 22 of the congresswoman’s fellow Democrats crossed the aisle to support the Republican-backed resolution. But Democratic anger at the lawmaker from Michigan over her comments about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict—culminating in a video she created and shared recently that accuses President Joe Biden of having “supported the genocide” of Palestinians—extends well beyond the relatively small group.

“She’s pissed a lot of her colleagues off,” said a veteran Democratic strategist who requested anonymity to speak freely. “She was well-liked when she got to Congress. A lot of people don’t like her anymore.”

The video, which features shots from pro-Palestinian protests across the country, includes demonstrators chanting “from the river to the sea,” a phrase that is widely interpreted as a call for the destruction of the Jewish state of Israel. Though Tlaib herself has since insisted she meant it as an “aspirational call for freedom, human rights, and peaceful coexistence, not death, destruction, or hate,” groups like the Anti-Defamation League and others have deemed the slogan antisemitic. Dana Nessel, Michigan’s Democratic attorney general, said the phrase is “hurtful,” “cruel,” and “hateful.”

Many of Tlaib’s Democratic colleagues in Congress agree with those latter assessments—but they’re treading cautiously. When asked about Tlaib accusing Biden of supporting genocide, Sen. Debbie Stabenow, a Michigan Democrat, told The Dispatch the video is “very unfortunate” and that she disagrees with Tlaib’s statement. Rep. Pete Aguilar, the chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, also told reporters Tuesday that he “strenuously disagrees” with the comments and the video, though he voted against the censure resolution.

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  1. Tom Johnson

    “The inability of most Democrats in Washington to more forcefully condemn Tlaib’s rhetoric reflects a harsh and ugly reality about the party…”

    About parties in general, one could argue. Many here will remember Reagan’s 11th Commandment: “Thou shalt not speak ill of another Republican.”

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    1. Placid Paddler

      Indeed. Though maybe Reagan isn’t wrong. He likely meant that to mean not speaking ill in public. In those days, you’d all go into a smoke filled room, have a private meeting, and then the bad offender would be told they better stop misbehaving or consequences.
      The problem is the smoke filled room was done away with. While getting rid of the smoke was a plus, we may have, as Jonah has noted, need of the room’s walls. The first thing that happened was the Speakers took over too much power, and then that evolved into having reactionary grifter candidates by way of legislation to have more sunshine and less “bad money” in politics.

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  2. Uncooldad1975

    Tlaib can spew all the hatred she wants. As far as her Dem colleagues are concerned. the ONLY thing that matters is that there is a "D" next to her name. Period. Full stop. End of discussion. All other tut-tutting is posturing.

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  3. Indy Tim

    Tlaib speaks Arabic. She knows the chant directly translated is, from the water to the water Palestine will be Arab.

    The aspiration in the chant is that Palestine will, like the countries around it, be only Arab and free of Jews. She is lying when she says the chant is about peaceful coexistence.

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    Leo Monterosso

    The Democrats are finally seeing evidence of what her detractors have for some time now, she wants Israelis to be displaced from the land and replaced with Palestinians. She justifies the death of Israelis by wails of occupation and apartheid even though Israel is the most diverse of all Middle East nations.

    It is a shame that activists like Rep Tlaib do not grasp that Palestinian suffering is directly related to their attacks on Isarel.

    If she truly cared for Palestinian lives she would work to remove Hamas, Islamic Jihad and every group that attacks Isarel from within Palestine.

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  5. Deleted Comment

    This comment has been deleted

  6. Ted

    We hear this a lot "so in so is not very popular in their own party, lots of people are angry with so in so". Whatever comes of it? In the past number of years? Nothing. It's all empty rhetoric.

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  7. Bubba

    It’s almost like they don’t respect minorities and don’t take them seriously. She couldn’t possibly mean what she has been saying for years.

    Go figure.

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    AA

    John Zogby the founder of the polling firm is the brother of James Zogby who is the founder of the Arab American Institute which "commissioned" this survey.

    James Zogby is and has been anti-Israel and anti US support of Israel for years, the polling firm is just an extension of that.
    Take a look at his articles for reference:
    https://www.thenation.com/authors/james-zogby/
    https://www.thenationalnews.com/topics/Author/james-zogby/

    It is ridiculous how some news outlets like WSJ present this story as though this is a representation of the truth, it would sound very differently if they said: "James Zogby a staunch critic of US support of Israel says Arabs do not support Biden according to poll conducted by his brother"

    Thank God we have The Dispatch... keep up the good work

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  9. Seth Halpern

    I don't really blame Arab-Americans for circling the wagons around her, but it should be borne in mind that Palestinians at large have had an historically execrable if not uniquely awful record when it comes to picking winners and losers.

    Until people like her firmly break out of their current mindset, that record will remain proudly and defiantly unscathed and intact.

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      Seth B

      As the old saying has it, the Palestinians never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity.

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      1. Jaybrown

        Eban actually said "The Arabs," but the context is the same.

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    Mattjabour

    "A recent Zogby poll commissioned by the Arab American Institute found that Biden’s support among this group has plummeted, with just 17 percent of the 500 Arab Americans surveyed late last month saying that they’d vote for the current president in 2024."
    Wonder how that would shift when considering that Trump has loudly touted that if reelected, he'd bring back his Muslim travel ban on day 1. Democrats are still very clearly their best bet.

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    1. Avatar photo
      Ben Cue

      Now, more than ever there is a need for political alternatives beyond Democrats and Republicans. On issue after issue, I find both parties endorsing terrible ideas. And they're both led by terrible candidates. We have to do something before we sleepwalk ourselves into another four years of Trump.

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