The Hundred-Days Tapes: Rep. Pramila Jayapal
The fourth in a series of interviews inside Joe Biden's big tent
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The other day, Representative Pramila Jayapal, chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, told me something that stuck during my reporting on President Biden’s big-tent coalition.
“We’re not used to being on the winning side of things,” she said of progressives. “Governing when our voices are actually being taken into consideration is kind of a new experience. I think for a lot of people, we’re still focused on what we didn’t get.”
Today, in the latest installment of the Hundred-Days Tapes, I share our full interview.
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I’ve been thinking a lot about the question she raises. When you belong to a cause that ends up changing the conversation, resetting the terms of the debate, yanking ajar the window of the possible, how do you adjust to that victory? Especially when that victory in the long war doesn’t mean you’re prevailing in every battle. On the contrary, you may still be falling short of what you seek round after round. But progressives, as Jayapal was suggesting, can in so many ways take credit for shaping the debate right now, for creating the universe in which Biden has had to operate. And it’s a shame when people who deserve credit for a change don’t grasp their own achievement.
My conversation with Representative Pramila Jayapal.
And, in case you missed them, check out some of the other Hundred-Days Tapes: my conversations with Robert Reich, the Rev. William Barber, and Briahna Joy Gray.
Enjoy!
I used to love Rep. Jayapal. I was heartbroken when I learned she could not run for president because she was not born in the USA.
But as a sex trafficking survivor, she has completely lost my support.
Rep. Jayapal sold out trafficking survivors to Big Tech and the Pimp Lobby by opposing FOSTA/SESTA.
I also suspect she belongs to the "sex work is work" clique, which is a cruel lie for most of us who have been in the sex trade.
I suspect she also supports the dude bro dream of legalized sex buying.
Here's the thing: Legalized sex buying is great for men (it legitimates male entitlement to women's bodies) and it is great for brothel owners and economically privileged women who are capable of freely choosing to work in the sex trade.
But it is dangerous for poor women & girls of color, who are those most likely to be trafficked.
Legalized sex buying normalizes sex buying and increases demand.
Because there is never enough willing "supply" to meet demand, sex trafficking is extremely lucrative.
Legalized sex buying = increased demand = supply shortage = increased sex trafficking.
This is not rocket science.
But because trafficked women are not free to speak to the privileged classes, their/our voices are silenced.
Rep. Jayapal is a hypocrite. At the end of the day, she chooses what is politically expedient, not what is best for the most vulnerable.
She is not much better than the fools on the Right, who view exploited women as being responsible for sex buyers' crimes. But hey, at least when we make exploited people responsible for their own abuse we are respecting their "agency" (as if poor people ever have true agency).
I'll never donate another dime to any of the Squad as long as they spit in the face of the most vulnerable women & girls in society: women and girls who are trafficked.
There is something that I found really insightful about the way conservatives, or more leaning right representatives, leverage their game by coming to the negotiation table with nothing to lose. This is mostly given by self-awareness of not having the support of the majority, but then I question is do representatives really representing the majority’s views? And are they really doing their best for the common good?
I also want to leave a related question: Is Biden's administration doing a really good job or our expectations were so low that normalcy feels radical?