These assaults have been happening for years in Massachusetts, so as inappropriate as President Trump's remarks were, Representative Pressley's rhetoric and that of her similarly, seemingly permanently indignant colleagues have never meant much to me.
I have heard or read that rhetoric for quite a while now. All I can think then is "I'm being illegally filmed in the bathroom every day. So are a lot of other people. I have talked about it for years, and you're doing nothing about it."
I believe that Speaker Pelosi has been unkind and unfair to these women, by the way. I have no trouble believing that. I wouldn't say that she's jealous. I would say that they are full of youthful enthusiasm and idealism, and that they are also not weathered enough to know how to achieve their goals and deflect attacks.
Speaker Pelosi is a woman in a male-dominated and highly visible venue. It is easier for her to solidify her own position by being unforgiving of their inexperience and by failing to offer support and guidance than to protect herself by picking on them. That's a very common dynamic among older and younger women in the workforce.
They're also pretty full of themselves, which I guess is an occupational hazard. Par for the course or not, it is counterproductive for politicians to be egotistical or to have thin skins, although those character weaknesses are far more often applauded when men have them than when women do.
A decade ago, I didn't think I had the stomach for politics. I haven't had the option of remaining either delicate or rejecting of nuance. I have had to relate to people in their entirety, no matter how dehumanizing my life is. That is also how I prefer to relate to people even when I'm not being mistreated.
The last thing I'll say about this tonight is that I almost never hear about Representative Tlaib. I don't avoid hearing about the other 3; I have spent most of my political time thinking about the Middle East, most often Syria and now Iran, and have also felt that addressing Latin American migration at its source by discouraging dictatorships and corruption ought to be prioritized over party conflict about the U.S. border. It is impossible not to hear about the other 3. Representative Tlaib seems to know how to stay out of the news even when she's in it. That is a skill that you gain from experience. She's also a lawyer. She was more ready for where she is now than the others were.
