If you own any stock in former Democratic National Committee Chairman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, here’s what we advise: Sell! Sell! Sell!
DWS’s star has been falling for a long time. First, she got bumped from the DNC after hacked emails showed she went to great lengths to play down Sen. Bernie Sanders and play up Hillary Clinton during the 2016 battle for the Democratic presidential nomination.
But things have gotten steadily worse for the Florida lawmaker. Even if Democrats take back the House in 2018, no one sees her in a leadership post. And there’s no buzz about her running for governor in Florida, either. Plus, with Hillary’s loss, she also lost her chance of joining the administration — something she was clearly gunning for.
Even more, they’re getting sick of her in Florida, too, Politico reports.
One year after the Florida congresswoman’s resignation as national party chair at the Democratic National Convention — where activists booed and shouted “shame!” at her during a Florida delegation breakfast speech — the once-rising star’s political fortunes continue to fade, beset by critics on all sides.
Wasserman Schultz is again on defense after steadfastly refusing to explain why she continued to employ Imran Awan, an IT staffer who was under a federal investigation for alleged equipment and data scam in the U.S. House since February. She finally fired him on July 25, one day after authorities arrested him on a seemingly unrelated mortgage fraud charge. He was at the airport leaving for Pakistan, after wiring $283,000 there.
The firing came a full six months after about two dozen House Democrats dismissed four of Awan’s relatives and a friend, all of whom were under investigation with him.
Wasserman Schultz broke her public silence on Awan last week, portraying herself as the victim of “right wing media” attacks rooted in anti-Muslim bigotry aimed at Awan and the IT group.
Ah, the old “right-wing conspiracy” — a sure sign DWS’s quiver is out of arrows.
And now, she’s plummeting in her home state as well. “We wish she would go away and stop being so public by doubling down on negative stories,” Nikki Barnes, a progressive DNC member from Florida, told Politico. Barnes “believes Wasserman Schultz left the national party ‘in shambles’ while chair, culminating with the hack of DNC servers and the release of embarrassing internal emails by WikiLeaks in the 2016 campaign. As for Wasserman Schultz’s defense, Barnes said ‘none of this makes sense. It doesn’t sound like racial profiling … there must have been something for her.’ ”
There may be more bad news in store for DWS. Rep. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) has called for a Justice Department probe and says she may be called to testify. Meanwhile, a conservative group has filed an ethics complaint against the lawmaker and a Senate committee is looking into the Awan scandal.
Barnes said Democrats in Florida are getting tired of the steady stream of bad news about DWS.
“Everything that’s going on right now is taking away from what success we’re seeing in the grassroots movement. No one’s talking about the people’s platform or hearing our good news because the headlines are focused on Debbie, her misplaced laptop and consequences,” she said.