In the space of about 20 seconds, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., ensured that she’ll be known as “House Minority Leader Pelosi” — if that — by this time next year.
After grimacing through the entirety of President Trump’s State of the Union address with the disgusted look of a toddler being forced to finish her vegetables, Pelosi wanted to make sure nobody was left unclear about how she felt. In a gesture that was surely intended to be dramatic, but which only made her look childish, Pelosi emphatically ripped up her copy of the president’s speech as he left the podium.
In so doing, she insulted the Congress, the Constitution, and the American people. She also disgraced herself and the entire Democratic Party.
PELOSI’S BURNS: FROM SOTU TEAR TO TITLE SNUB, SPEAKER THROWS SHADE AT TRUMP THROUGHOUT ADDRESS
It was a jaw-dropping moment for anybody who watched it — vaguely reminiscent of the collective shock the nation felt when Mike Tyson violated one of the most fundamental rules of sportsmanship by biting Evander Holyfield’s ear off during a bout in 1997.
Holyfield won that match when Tyson was disqualified. It’s surely not the way he had hoped to win the title, but it was the only acceptable outcome in light of Tyson’s transgression. The same can be said of Pelosi’s SOTU tantrum. Her conduct was so despicable that many voters are going to consider it disqualifying for her entire party when they go to the polls in November.
Pelosi later explained that “It was the courteous thing to do considering the alternative,” though she didn’t specify what she thought the alternative was. Was she fighting back the urge to spit in President Trump’s face? Would that have been any less “courteous” than metaphorically spitting in the faces of all the great Americans who were rightly honored during the State of the Union?
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Democrat voters who called into the SOTU “reaction” segment on C-SPAN certainly don’t seem to think Pelosi’s tantrum was “the courteous thing to do.” One caller, who has been a Democrat for nearly as long as Pelosi has been alive, called her behavior “appalling,” “disrespectful,” and “embarrassing,” vowing that “I am never voting for a Democrat again.” Another caller reported that she and her entire family had voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016, but could not bring themselves to vote Democrat ever again after watching Pelosi’s spectacle.
“I am no longer a Democrat,” another caller said sadly, no doubt capturing the feelings of countless Democrats and independent voters across the country.
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As the highest-ranking Democratic elected official in the nation, Pelosi’s disgraceful behavior reflects on her entire party. Of course, it also reflects the extreme partisanship embraced by the far-left Democrats who have taken over that party — the exact same divisive instincts that led to their sham impeachment effort.
Pelosi’s colleagues in Congress are only digging themselves a deeper hole by coming to her defense. Shamelessly, they’re trying to justify Pelosi’s act of open disdain for the office of the presidency by citing policy disagreements.
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The American people know that our leaders will have political differences with each other — that’s the whole point. But we still expect our elected officials to accord each other the basic civility and respect they are owed as servants of our republic.
Soon-to-be House Minority Leader Pelosi’s failure to meet even that simple standard has disqualified the entire Democratic Party in the eyes of millions of American voters.