House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.), a woman, has promised the 117th Congress will be "the most inclusive in history." Thanks to her subversive colleague, Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D., Mo.), a man, she's off to a rocky start.
Cleaver, an ordained Christian minister (ugh), delivered the opening prayer to the House of Representatives on Sunday, claiming without evidence that God "created the world and everything in it" and urging this "monotheistic God" to deliver "peace across this land," as if America is the only country that matters.
If that wasn't problematic enough, Cleaver concluded by embracing a binary view of "gender" that is anything but inclusive. Cleaver's unusual signoff—"Amen and awoman"—was a direct shot at Pelosi's recent proposal to "honor all gender identities" by mandating (or womandating) the use of gender-neutral terminology in congressional texts.
Cleaver's brazen attempt to derail Pelosi's genderless agenda is an inauspicious sign for Democrats in 2021. Even if they pick up two Senate seats in this week's runoff elections in Georgia, the party's margins in Congress will be razor thin. Solidarity will be required if Democrats want to pass meaningful legislation in the first half of Joe Biden's first term.
Leave it to Cleaver, whose insulting theocratic diatribe proved once again that Democrats will never not be in a state of disarray.