Undaunted

Nancy Pelosi’s greatness is still on display.

Former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi was better at her job than anyone who has held her office, at least in modern American history. Having endured MAGA’s unprecedented era of political malpractice, corruption, and sheer incompetence, we should be all the more appreciative of a career defined by steely resolve and tactical skill in service of prodigious legislative output that improved the lives of millions of Americans. Her political acumen, as well as her razor-sharp recall and keen electoral judgement, were on display at an appearance with Politico’s Jonathan Martin in Sacramento on Tuesday.

Here is part of that conversation:

Pelosi’s sage advice for her party and for voters centered on a key word: “representative.” This was not only the job title she occupied but the political raison d’etre for she and her colleagues. The branch intimately connected to and most responsive to the people retains, as she pointed out, a special place in Article I under the Framer’s Constitutional framework. She chided those who say they do not like this or that candidate in a particular district. “Who cares?” she essential said. It’s not their representative. Each district gets its voters’ pick, and it is entirely irrelevant (inappropriate, even, as she suggested) for others to micromanage or disparage their choices. She spoke emotionally, reverentially, about the role the Framers carved out for the House, for whom voters must go to the ballot every two years.

With a sly dig at the Senate (Wyoming gets 2 senators, well that’s the Constitution!), she observed that while the president gets a four-year term, two years after his election the entire House goes to the voters as a “referendum” on themselves but also on “what is going on” in the White House. No one could miss her meaning: The upcoming House election is the chance to short-circuit Trump’s reign of corruption, incompetence, and malfeasance, putting him under close supervision by the people’s House.

She threw out 30 as the number of seats she’d like to win. But “I’ll take more,” she said with a grin. Indeed, winning decisively — she made clear — not only would help foreclose Trump election shenanigans but would make an emphatic statement that voters definitively reject Trump’s authoritarian putsch.

Her account of former president Joe Biden (who accomplished a “remarkable” amount in two years, she recalled, ticking off the roster of significant wins) was affectionate but candid. As she has before, she denies telling him to get out of the race following the debate disaster, saying she only told him his pollsters were not giving him the full story. She told him in a “prayerful meeting,” she recalled, that he should meet with other pollsters, and said bluntly that his campaign “ain’t working.” But she also told the audience this week that she recommended he share with the voters any cognitive testing he might have gotten. Biden apparently responded that he got “tested” every day in the job. He never took her up on the offer, nor is it clear it would have helped.

As she has in previous interviews, Pelosi denied going on Morning Joe the next day to open the door to his exit. She says her answer about his campaign — “It’s up to the president” — was intended to be innocuous. (That part of her account does not ring entirely true to those who appreciate she is among the savviest politicians of her era, and surely would have foreseen the impact of her comments.) And of course, the “deluge” did follow, as the party recognized she had given him a “path” to get out.

Pelosi was appropriately unsparing about those in his family and on his staff who saw him up close and could have observed his health. “Those who did know should have acted upon it,” she said tersely. After Democrats went into the minority in 2018, she says, she saw him only sparingly, leaving her without sufficient opportunities to observe his mental or physical condition.

Biden’s inner circle’s refusal to level with him, she did not need to reiterate, set us on a constitutionally-threatening, perilous slide into MAGA totalitarian rule. Frankly, those who refused to confront Biden and force the issue shoulder the blame for untold constitutional damage, ICE murders, an illegal and disastrous war, and the suffering of millions who have lost vital social safety net services.

Pelosi’s appearance reminds us of the chasm between, on one hand, her adept, successful leadership and prodigious legislative record (under both Biden and Obama) and, on the other, the ruin and mayhem resulting from incompetent, foolish, and irresponsible Republican bootlickers and Trump enablers who took up the Speaker’s gavel in her wake. One could never imagine Nancy Pelosi losing control of the House and suffering multiple losses on discharge petitions, failing to do basic oversight over a disastrously cruel and inept presidency (regardless of party), tolerating rank bigotry among her members, or silently countenancing illegal military operations.

Pelosi’s recitation of Biden’s legislative accomplishments (and recounting the details of the Belarus political upheaval that precipitated her Morning Joe appearance) underscored her remarkable memory, grasp of detail, and love of governance. Few public servants have ever been as good at their job — or seemingly loved it as much. Her faith in the power of government to do good, here and abroad, especially in light of the current chaotic rule by entirely self-interested, corrupt MAGA thugs, makes one nostalgic for the “good old days” — which seem like a lifetime ago.

Nevertheless, her faith in the Lincoln adage: “Public sentiment is everything. With public sentiment, nothing can fail; without it nothing can succeed” restores hope that, roused to the Trump menace, the public will usher in an arduous but political about-face and dramatic march to recapture our democracy in November.

Pelosi’s appearance, most important, should serve as a cautionary tale for Democrats. Her famous expression (channeling the late Al Davis, former owner of the Raiders) — “Just win, baby” — could not be more timely as Democrats move to the general election. Any factional fights, recriminations about primaries, and social media sniping among the pro-democracy forces are gifts to the MAGA totalitarian regime, adding to the risk that the assaults on the rule of law, simple decency, democratic pluralism, and truth will persist. Those who proceed in that vein are enabling Trump. Period.

Those who love American ideals as much as Speaker Emerita Pelosi and continue to harbor faith in the ability of government to improve ordinary people’s lives can draw inspiration from her lifelong example of undaunted, undimmed, unafraid, and uncompromising patriotism. America is indebted to her for her decades of service.