On Wednesday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi did what was long overdue: announced a formal impeachment inquiry. The inquiry was triggered by President Donald Trump admitting to having sought assistance from the President of Ukraine in targeting political rival, Joe Biden - potentially even withholding foreign aid in order to motivate an investigation into Biden and his son. While this recent discovery was the straw that broke the camel's back for Pelosi, there has been a group of progressive Democratic party members who have been fearlessly demanding impeachment for a long time now.
This group of women has labelled themselves "The Squad" and consists of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley and Rashida Tlaib. Although they - as well as Rep. Maxine Waters - have been the ones putting their names on the line by calling out all of Trump's impeachable offences, CNN decided to praise a group of moderate white women - Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania, Abigail Spanberger of Virginia, Mikie Sherill of New Jersey, Elaine Luria of Virginia, and Elissa Slotkin of Michigan - who only recently chose to support impeachment.
CNN put together a glowing report on this new group that has deemed themselves "The Badasses". Not only does giving themselves this name blatantly betray that they are modelling themselves on "The Squad," it's a rather audacious move to commend their own bravery for stepping up so late in the game. Furthermore, in CNN's interview with the group, when asked whether they have been frustrated with "The Squad", Abigail Spanberger of Virginia shaded them by responding, "I don't care who has the headlines. I care about the legislation that we prioritize and I don't think any of us want to be the loudest voice in the room. I just want to be one of the most effective." To be commended as the congresswomen who "changed history" after doing the bare minimum of walking through the door that others have been banging down for months, and then still proceeding to diminish "The Squad" as loud, is the epitome of privilege.