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"Sloganeering kills people": Jim Clyburn tells Democrats to regain their disciple before 2022

10 November 2020
 Dan Ackermann

House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn isn't happy with his Democratic caucus for allowing slogans to dominate the narrative about their party, telling "Axios on HBO" that phrases like "defund the police" cost them crucial seats in the House and Senate.

Why it matters: Democrats might have won the White House, but their party underperformed expectations in the congressional elections, and some members are publicly and privately blaming their more liberal colleagues.

  • Democrats were bullish about expanding their majority in the U.S. House of Representatives ahead of the election, but ended up losing at least seven seats and some of their freshman members who flipped Republican districts just two years ago.
  • They still maintain control of that chamber, but failed to win the Senate outright. (That could change if Democratic candidates win both of the Georgia Senate runoffs in January.)

What they're saying: "Well, it happened simply because we were not able to discipline ourselves," Clyburn told "Axios on HBO."

  • "We keep making that mistake. This foolishness about, 'You got to be this progressive or that progressive,'" he added.
  • "That phrase — 'defund the police' — cost Jaime Harrison tremendously," Clyburn said of the Democratic Senate candidate who failed to unseat Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham South Carolina.

Between the lines: Though Clyburn acknowledged that wasn't the only reason for Harrison's loss, he took aim at the "sloganeering" around liberal policies and implored his Democratic colleagues "to be as practical as I am."

  • "Stop sloganeering," he said. "Sloganeering kills people. Sloganeering destroys movements. Stop sloganeering. And let's go about the business of representing people and building hopes and aspirations for people."
  • Clyburn isn't alone. Last week, leaked audio from a Democratic caucus-wide conference call revealed several members feel the same.
  • Rep. Marc Veasey of Texas said these slogans gave Republicans ammunition to use in “commercial after commercial” against their candidates.
  • Rep. Abigail Spanberger, who eked out a re-election victory in Virginia, took aim at her colleagues who have embraced the "defund the police" movement and said Democrats needed to be better at fightingthe "socialism" label.

Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times

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Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.

Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.

The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.

  • The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.

What the transcripts say:

  • Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
  • The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
  • Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."

Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.