For some, a new moniker for Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) may feel like poetic justice — especially if it catches on.
Popular radio host Charlamagne tha God revealed on the “Breakfast Club” Tuesday that he has a brutal nickname he likes to use for the House minority leader.
“I call him ‘AIPAC Shakur,’” Charlamagne said.
The nickname is a clever play on the name of late rapper Tupac Shakur and Jeffries’ longstanding support for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, Washington’s most powerful pro-Israel group.
Charlamagne busted out his epithet when his guest, TV and radio personality Claudia Jordan, proclaimed herself to be a “politics nerd” on his show and said that she really enjoyed interviewing Jeffries on her own podcast, “Accidentally Informed.”
At the mere mention of the New York democrat’s name, Charlamagne made it clear that he doesn’t find the politician particularly inspiring.
“I don’t hate him,” Charlamagne said. “I just don’t think he stands for anything.”
“Well, definitely — we did talk about messaging, and I actually went to the Capitol and had a meeting with him,” Jordan told Charlamagne. “And we talked about messaging and how I was like, ’The frustration with the party is y’all have to get more gangster. Like, stop going by the politics of the late 2000s, in 2010, and you have to … rise to the occasion in the messaging. And he did. I saw him do more afterwards.”
“Hakeem is a puppet,” Charlamagne shot back. “Hakeem is not doing anything if Chuck Schumer don’t tell him to do it. And it’s as simple as that.”
Charlamagne’s opinion echoes a lot of liberals’ mounting frustrations with the current state of the Democratic Party. So when a clip of his remarks made its way on to X, many left-leaning users felt the nickname was hilarious and appropriate.
Many on the left aren’t thrilled that the U.S. bankrolls Israel’s ongoing attacks in Gaza, considering the reported death toll of Palestinian civilians. But Jordan’s sentiment that Democratic leaders aren’t being “gangster” enough in their responses to President Donald Trump’s extremism seems to tap into the crux of the issue a bit more.
Just months before President Donald Trump was elected the first time, former first lady Michelle Obama famously advised Democrats to rise above MAGA by saying: “When they go low, we go high.”
However, considering that Trump was re-elected in 2024, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-Calif.) has decided to adopt a completely different approach, which could be summed up as “when they go low, we go low.”
Not only is the California Democrat actively trying to squash Texas Republicans’ gerrymandering scheme to secure control of the House, but his latest social media tactics are really starting to annoy Republicans.
“I’ve changed,” Newsom told Fox LA when asked about his new social media approach in an interview. “The facts have changed; we [Democrats] need to change.”