Flip-flopper Susan Wild
Posted on 08/12/2024 4:01:31 AM PDT by george76
Susan Wild, the Democrat Pennsylvania congresswoman in one of the country’s tightest House races, has privately and repeatedly trashed working-class conservative voters in her district as bigots who "drank the Trump Kool-Aid." But in public, the Pennsylvania Democrat has drastically moderated her positions on hot-button issues as she seeks reelection in her battleground district.
Earlier this year, Wild was caught on a private conference call saying she was "dismayed" that her eastern Pennsylvania district was redrawn in 2022 to include Carbon County, which she lamented had transformed from a "working class blue district" to a "red county." And on her personal Facebook page this year, Wild smeared a military veteran constituent, suggesting the man was homophobic because he refused to shake her hand at a Memorial Day event. These were not the first times she was caught lamenting new constituents she viewed as backward and uneducated.
Wild has been on the defensive since redistricting changed the complexion of her Lehigh Valley district, adding Carbon County’s overwhelmingly white, lower-income voters to a constituency that also comprises the majority Hispanic city of Allentown. Wild has since been caught in a series of gaffes denigrating her new constituents as backward yokels she needs to "school."
"Carbon County has many attributes, but it is a county that—although it was once an Obama county—it since has become a Trump county," she said in a virtual meet and greet in the summer of 2022 that was uncovered by Fox News. "I'm not quite sure what was in their heads because the people of Carbon County are exactly the kind of people who should not be voting for a Donald Trump, but I guess I might have to school them on that a little bit. But most of all, it is a very rural county."
As Wild privately smears her conservative constituents, she has aggressively moderated her stances on immigration, energy, voter ID, and crime. "Wild has made a career out of flip-flopping," Ryan Mackenzie, a Republican state representative running against Wild, said earlier this year. Wild, who won her race in 2022—the first race since redistricting—by only 2 percentage points, is considered one of the most vulnerable Democratic incumbents up for reelection. Mackenzie, a six-term incumbent, ran uncontested in 2022 and defeated his Democratic opponent by 20 points in 2020.
In January 2022, a month before Wild’s district was redrawn, she dismissed concerns about "people coming across the border and taking jobs" and disagreed with the statement that "every state is a border state." In 2018, she called the notion of a border wall "silly" and a "ridiculous waste of taxpayer money."
But more recently, Wild—who came under fire for Zooming into a campaign event while driving a car—has made a 180-degree turn on immigration.
"It's time to do something about the Southern border," Wild wrote in an op-ed in April. "We may be a long way from the U.S.-Mexico border, but the problems created by a broken system affect us too, particularly with regard to the entry of illegal drugs into our country."
In May, she called for executive action at the border and urged President Joe Biden "to use all the tools at his disposal to better address security at the Southern border, interdict illicit fentanyl, and allow for orderly legal immigration."
Wild has also softened her views on fracking and natural gas, a major industry in the more rural parts of the Keystone State.
During her first congressional campaign in 2018, Wild called for a ban on fracking on public lands. In March 2019, she hailed the Green New Deal, a massive green energy spending project advocated by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.) and her far-left "Squad," as "wonderful" and "exactly on point."
Now, Wild has embraced the natural gas industry, recently criticizing President Joe Biden’s decision to pause the export of liquefied natural gas, concerned about how it would impact the 72,000 Pennsylvania workers in the industry.
Wild is not the only Democrat who sees natural gas opposition as a political landmine in Pennsylvania and other energy-friendly states. Vice President Kamala Harris, who said in 2019 she was "in favor of banning fracking," said last month she no longer supports a ban—a flip-flop the Associated Press attributed to her "need to win battleground Pennsylvania."
Wild has also softened her opposition to voter ID requirements. In December 2019, she opposed "strict ID requirements" for voting but reversed course during her post-redistricting campaign in 2022. "I have no problem with requiring that we show voter ID…as long as people who don’t have a driver's license are able, easily, to get some sort of official identification," Wild said at a debate in October 2022.
She has removed statements on her campaign website in support of controversial criminal justice reform proposals. Before her district shift, she called for "an end to mandatory minimum" sentences for "non-violent drug offenses," as well as "an end to the failed ‘War on Drugs.’"
Wild has also found herself on the defensive for her association with anti-Israel groups.
In March 2019, Wild spoke at the annual fundraiser for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, an anti-Israel group known for its links to the terrorist group Hamas. Days later, Wild, who is Jewish, called herself "a very pro-Israel member of Congress."
And Wild touted an endorsement from Emgage, an anti-Israel advocacy group, on her campaign website, the Washington Free Beacon reported. Wild deleted her endorsements page shortly after.
As she changes her positions on key policy questions to accommodate her new, more conservative constituents, Wild has had to walk back multiple gaffes. In June, she locked her Facebook account after smearing a veteran she met at a Memorial Day event as homophobic.
"I suspect that the vet who refused to shake my hand today at a Memorial Day event would not approve of your second flag," she commented on a photo a Facebook friend had posted showing a house flying an American and gay pride flag.
She has struggled to temper her comments on Carbon County despite the public controversy they caused in 2022. In January, she was caught saying on a Zoom call with fellow Democrats that she was "dismayed" that she had to represent Carbon County after redistricting.
"After Trump came along, it went from a sort of working-class blue district to a—they drank the Trump Kool-Aid—and it really became a red county. So I was dismayed when I got that as part of my district," she said.
When her remarks were made public, Wild apologized.
Soon the corrupt MSM will be comparing her to Ronald Reagan... has she come out for ‘not taxing tips’ yet?
Democrats run as conservative but rule as totalitarian commies.
“has she come out for ‘not taxing tips’”
Yes. A couple days ago. Said it like it was her idea.
The citizens should school her with some roof patch and feathers.
Well she shouldn’t start with grammar.
The press won’t ‘fact check’ where this ‘tip idea’ came from ... they don’t ‘get it’.
It’s dangerous having a press as stupid, corrupt and biased as the one we have now.
Sadly, the low-IQ voters never will know this info, or care about it if they did know.
another fine example of “Conservatives seek agreement while liberals demand compliance” L.Star
The press isn’t low IQ - they’re liars. We can hold them to a higher standard.
They take advantage of people who work for a living and don’t have time to follow all the ins and outs of what’s being said in the political world. The corrupt press helped cover Biden’s brain problems, and they’ll help democrats lie in all ways that give them an advantage.
“The press isn’t low IQ - they’re liars.”
They’re both; you don’t have to pick just one.
I’ve met her while advocating for Paralyzed Veterans of America.
She is uber-liberal!!!
You go from a woman to a man or a man to a woman.
A strictly binary choice. Nothing more, nothing less.
Neither cat nor dog, neither horse nor cow. Man or woman. Pick.
Perhaps she could school people on that issue.
bttt
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