Election of President-elect Joe Biden as budget leader will not take an online blow. So when the hits for the best players in Congress were removed from the internet, it was clear that something had happened.
Neera Tanden, president of the American Center for Progress, has deleted more than a thousand tweets from her personal Twitter account since early November. Many of those restored by The Daily Beast contain remarks that turn to huge lawmakers on both sides of the corridor that could become an iceberg before a Senate affirmative hearing takes place under the leadership of the Office of Management and Budget next year.
And that’s exactly what seems to be happening to Tanden.
Tanden deleted some, but not all, of his tweets from his account, and prominent lawmakers like Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Sens. Joni Ernst (R-IA) and Susan Collins (R-ME) praised their Democrats. challengers. It’s not clear exactly when Tanden deleted them, but the internet archive says many tweets were available at least until the fall.
“Can the people here please focus on McConnell and the GOP senators who are in this cycle who allow him: Cory Gardner, Collins, Ernst, Cornyn, Perdue, Tillis and many others” – Tanden wrote Since June 2019, in a deleted tweet about the seven Republican senators.
When Collins’ re-election seemed troubled, Tanden vowed to “treat his challenger, Sara Gideon, like a long-lost relative,” and “work hard to beat Susan Collins.”
SHE deleted the tweet sometime after November 5th.
By Monday afternoon, two of the group he was targeting made statements. Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) He told the congressional press station, which he says is “perhaps” Tanden Biden’s “worst candidate so far”.
“I think in light of his militant and offensive remarks to many members of the Senate, especially in our hallway, that this, of course, creates a problematic path,” he said. Tanden was a vocal supporter of defiant MJ Hegar in his failed bid to take Cornyn off, but has since deletes at least one tweet supporting the performance of the Texas Democrat in an October debate.
Speaking to Hill reporters Monday, Collins said, “I don’t know him or I know much about him, but I know he’s a prolific Twitter user.”
(Neither Cornyn nor Collins seemed to acknowledge the relative absurdity of criticizing tweets based on the customs of outgoing members.–including the President himself).
By Monday night, Tanden changed his Twitter bio read: “Director of OMB Nominee.” He declined to comment on this article.
It wasn’t just Republicans who criticized Tanden’s selection. During the 2016 election, his intense criticism of Senate Bernie Sanders (I-VT), who was the main opponent of his then boss, Hillary Clinton, earned him a reputation as one of the most spectacular and outspoken personalities willing to staple progressives. a period when many have tried too hard to minimize the ongoing democratic struggles.
After Clinton finally won the pre-election but lost the general election from Donald Trump, Tanden focused primarily on Republicans, but continued to often toss up the movement’s progressives by picking up some online fights.
“It’s a strange choice for Biden and his‘ healing ’presidency to get someone so militant, especially on Twitter, that we’ve just finished our four-year Twitter presidency,” said Josh Fox, a climate change activist and filmmaker who was Sanders ’deputy in 2016. and 2020. “It causes anger unnecessarily.”
Now that the OMB is headed for its intended nomination – a role that needs confirmation from McConnell’s Republican chamber if Democrats don’t overtake the Senate in Georgia in two pre-elections – Tanden has tried to squeeze his parts. a digital footprint that led to the division of left and right as “extremely online” individuals.
For weeks, the decision to consider Tanden as a location within the Biden government had been thought of. According to a source close to the Biden shift, officials expressed their internal intent to become OMB directors within election week on November 3rd. A review of third-party archiving services such as the Internet Archive and Archive.vn found that Tanden’s account started with 88,639 tweets on Nov. 1, but was 87,588 by Monday night.
Deleted tweets included a chat with McConnell and an allegedly resentful Democratic democracy. “Obviously many people think that #MoscowMitch is a threat. Hat off @ JoeNBC, ”wrote Tanden a now deleted entry.
The advanced who intertwined with Tanden often did so in both substance and style. Three progressive sources who spoke to The Daily Beast about Tanden mentioned areas where they disagreed on politics, arguing that he and the CAP continue to lean to the center of the party’s spectrum during his tenure.
“On every side, in every faction, there are people who say he’s a bad actor,” said Nomiki Konst, a progressive activist and media figure. Tanden spent a good deal of time leading the CAP to “promote very hostile messages to the left,” Konst said.
A source close to Sanders described that they had received “stunned” text messages from other progressives in the senator’s career after Tanden’s name was Wall Street Journal on Sunday afternoon, saying he was greeted by some as a “middle finger” – especially for those who openly see his online interactions as an antagonist on the left. The source also said that the various policy positions supported by the CAP were discussed in a negative light.
“The CAP pretends to align with progressive values, but Neera Tanden seems so cynical that she attacks progressive policies like the hacking ban, the Green New Deal and Medicare for All,” Fox said. – I just don’t think it’s time. This is the time for us to really get things done for deeply suffering Americans. “
Tanden’s roots in political circles go back years. During Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign, he was an integral member of his close, high-ranking political team, playing a largely behind-the-scenes role, highlighted one Democratic source who had previously worked with him. And the advocacy and communication skills that other Democrats refer to will be exactly what is needed to achieve the bolder goals of the Biden administration.
He also worked alongside Jake Sullivan and Brian Deese, who are expected to fill a senior position in 2021 under Biden. Sullivan works as a national security consultant, and Deese is said to have been used to lead the National Economic Council, an influential resuscitation of some of Clinton’s senior executives into the elected president.
Representative Haley Stevens (D-MI), who is currently serving her second term in Congress, was also part of the brain trust of Clinton politics more than a decade ago and remains an old friend of Tanden. Stevens told The Daily Beast that Tanden “knows how to tackle inequality and how best to mobilize public resources to help people”.
“Nominating Neera as the first woman of color and the first Indian-American woman to head the Office of Management and Budget is an exciting moment for our country,” Stevens said. “Neera will be committed to the federal government doing the right job for all Americans.”
Other Democratic supporters came in quickly after the news about Tanden came to light. Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Cory Booker (D-NJ), and Sherrod Brown (D-OH) praised its fairness and meaning, as well as its readiness for an elevated fiscal role. Meanwhile, Jen Psaki, Biden’s newly announced White House press secretary, used one of his first public statements publicly tout Tanden’s personal story and credentials.
„. @ Neeratanden = a brilliant political expert and knows how important it is to fund government programs .. as a child, for a time his family relied on meal stamps, Section 8 vouchers to pay rent and social security, Psaki wrote. “Your fresh perspective can help you meet that moment.”
—Erin Banco and Jackie Kucinich contributed to the report.
