The Washington Post revealed this week that Alaska Rep. Mary Peltola is part of a new group of what it says are “moderate Democrats.”
But one of the leading members of the group, Rep. Marie Glusenkamp Perez of Washington state, has revealed something more radical — they are actually creating a rural Antifa.
Glusenkamp Perez was speaking via videoconference during a “Postcarding and Conversation” event in late July. That’s when she said that she and other members of the group, which include Rep. Jared Golden of Maine, are rebuilding the Blue Dog Democrats into a “antifascist rural” organization.
Antifa is the most violent and left-wing part of the Democratic Party. It’s also the least acknowledged or controlled. Antifa operates as independent cells that commit violence and vandalism against police and institutions. Former Attorney General William Barr described Antifa’s tactics as a “new form of urban guerrilla warfare” in the legacy of Mao Zedong, the leader of the communist revolution in China.
“So Jared, Mary, and I actually just took over the Blue Dogs,” Gluesenkamp Perez said on tape during the July 31 event hosted by the Downtown Nasty Women Social Group, a group of self-described women activists in New York City, according to Fox News. “They basically lost some of their membership before we came in, and we are sort of rebuilding it into – Mary, Jared, and I – are rebuilding it into this sort of antifascist rural [group].”
She then said that Peltola had taken out Sarah Palin, which Glusenkamp Perez had lumped in the fascist camp.
Antifa membership is not what the group told the Washington Post, however, when it started its publicity tour last month.
“The Blue Dog Coalition at its peak boasted 54 members, made up of more moderate Democrats who focused on fiscal stability, national security and working across the aisle to reach common goals — ideals that often led them to spar with the majority of their colleagues who have slowly inched further to the political left. Now, the three young leaders are hoping they can recruit more like-minded candidates, reestablish the power of the group now made up of just 10 lawmakers and challenge the idea that Democrats’ fundamental values can attract only a particular set of voters,” the Post reported, generously.
Fox News explained, “The comments made in private by Gluesenkamp Perez, who won election to represent Washington’s 3rd Congressional District last fall, came just days before the trio of Democrats embarked on a publicity tour to tout the Blue Dog Coalition’s alleged revamped moderate agenda.
“Earlier this week, in a profile outlining the ambitions of the coalition under its new leadership, The Washington Post amplified the trio’s message and insisted they are looking to ‘stage a comeback for moderates’ by heading up the group that has seen its membership continue to dwindle,” Fox News reported.
Peltola will stand for reelection in 2024, after having won a special election to replace the late Congressman Don Young, and then winning the November 2022 general election to serve a full two years. A Democrat from Bethel, she has one of the worst records for voting in Congress, ranking 12th from the bottom for attendance, and she has a voting record that reveals her radical views, voting in lock step with Rep. Nancy Pelosi, Rep. Ilhan Omar, and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
To date, only Nick Begich III has challenged Peltola. The businessman and Republican activist came in third in 2022 after Peltola and Palin.
