That's how it goes in the Garden State.
Rep. Van Drew (D-N.J.) is expected to cross the aisle and become a Republican sooner than later, after the anti-impeachment centrist was cajoled into doing so by the White House. And his Democratic colleagues from New Jersey had a few things to say about the matter, Roll Call reports.
Their responses ranged from mockery to genuine disappointment, but no one was happy. "He never talked to any of us, but I think there's some obligation," Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr. (D-N.J.) said. "Commitments mean something. You know what we would've done with a guy like that [in] my neighborhood in Paterson?"
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Pascrell followed that up by saying he doesn't advocate violence since he's 82 years old and has "passed that."
Others actually had a little sympathy for Van Drew because he may eventually get burned by President Trump. "I actually feel a little sorry for him because he did this to get tweets from President Trump and he's gonna find the president embraces people and discards them, sometimes in a matter of days," Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-N.J.) said. "He's not going to be useful to them for very long."
But Malinowski actually doesn't seem too worried about how Van Drew's decision might affect the party in New Jersey. "It's pretty inconsequential, I think, given how inconsequential [Van Drew] was in this place," he said. Read more at Roll Call.
