THE REASON WHY PROGRESSIVES WON'T PRESSURE BIDEN ABOUT STRIKES

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Business in Congress ended on Thursday with Republicans in the House of Representatives getting no closer to an agreement. By the time your dispatcher left the Capitol, Rep Matt Gaetz (R-FL), the far right firebrand who took Kevin McCarthy to 15 rounds to make him speaker, was meeting with House Majority Whip Tom Emmer in his office.

Gaetz waltzed into the office after the House failed to pass a rule to begin the process of passing the annual defence spending bill for the second time this week. Keep in mind that this version of the bill has absolutely zero chance of passing the US Senate.

This is purely an effort by Mr McCarthy to let his most right-wing members act like they did something before he ultimately does what he did with the debt limit: rely on Democrats to help pass the rule and then the final legislation to avert disaster.

Conversely, my colleague Alex Woodward reported this week that President Joe Biden faced pressure from some activists to join members of the United Auto Workers who are picketing. The Washington Post reported that some are nervous about the fact that Donald Trump would join striking workers. 

Mr Trump, of course, shocked the world in 2016 when he won Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan largely by virtue of his criticism of free trade deals and the decline of manufacturing that he blended in with his xenophobia and racism against immigrants.

But on Capitol Hill, progressive Democrats were more skittish about whether he should join.

"Anybody and everybody should stand with them," Rep Ilhan Omar (D-MN), a member of the Squad and the Congressional Progressive Caucus, told The Independent. "But I think he's put out statements. He's been very supportive. If his schedule allows, I think it would be significant for him to do that."

Sen John Fetterman (D-PA), who last weekend travelled to Detroit to support striking workers and has fashioned himself as a pro-labour Democrat, delivered a more humorous dodge.

"Again I don't give advice except on fashion," he told The Independent, as much of the Senate continues to crow about changing the dress code to accommodate his preference for shorts and Carhartt shirts as opposed to suits.

Rep Debbie Dingell (D-MI), who represents Detroit and many of the auto workers who are striking, was more vocal.

"I'm tired of everybody politicizing the future of the industry that I've care about," she told The Independent. "So I think it's a distraction to keep having this debate. And I care about what's happening at the table."

So what gives? Why do a sliver of the most right-wing members of the GOP get to hold the entire House of Representatives and future funding for the government hostage while progressives don't petition "Union Joe" to appeal to organised labour?

A big reason for this is because of the makeup of the respective party bases. No clearer example of this comes than whom the two parties nominated in recent years: Republican voters picked Mr Trump largely because he appealed to the most right-wing base instincts of the GOP.

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