THIS IS WHY IT WAS POINTLESS FOR DEMOCRATS TO CONSIDER DUMPING PELOSI

During the 2018 midterm campaign, several Democratic House candidates pledged not to vote for Nancy Pelosi as speaker of the House. Many commentators who claimed to have the Democrats' best interests at heart agreed that Pelosi should go.

Pelosi is speaker now, and what are Republicans doing?

The Republican Party has a new trio of Democratic villains: Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez....

The NRCC has sent out thousands of emails trying to tie vulnerable Democrats to Ocasio-Cortez, Tlaib and Omar. And the committee's website makes it appear as if these backbench members are running the House. While the NRCC still regularly bashes Pelosi, GOP lawmakers and aides privately acknowledge that Ocasio-Cortez, Tlaib and Omar are their main focus now.

The argument during the campaign was: Announce that Pelosi won't pursue the speakership and you'll deprive the GOP of a target for attacks. But the GOP will always find a target for attacks. The GOP will always demonize some Democrat.

In August, I told you that Republicans at all times have one or more Antichrists warming up in the bullpen. Ocasio-Cortez seemed to be the obvious choice. She hadn't even won a general election and she was being demonized in Laura Ingraham monologues, while being challenged to debate by Ben Shapiro, Candace Owens, and Katie Pavlich. I did add this:

Ocasio-Cortez might not become the main target of the Republicans -- but only because there's always Maxine Waters. Or Hillary Clinton. Or ...

I wasn't counting on Omar and Tlaib. But it doesn't matter. There's a always someone. And there would have been even if Pelosi had been dumped for a centrist white guy like Tim Ryan.

This is also why Democrats shouldn't imagine that they'll avoid demonization if they pick the least controversial candidate for president. Even if that happens, someone else will be the demon, and that person will be hung around the candidate's neck. It might not even be someone in politics -- it could be a celebrity or a TV news person or someone who's made news at a liberal arts college. There's always an Antichrist.