Last updated on September 25th, 2023 at 08:47 pm
Democratic House Leader Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is ready to go, and she understands that if Democrats take back the House, she is going to have the leverage to test or crush the myth of Trump as a dealmaker.
One piece of Pelosi’s Rolling Stone interview was a telling into the potential future:
Q: So if the election is not about regime change here at home, what is your vision for checks and balances? Would a lot of the next two years be about boxing Trump in?
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Pelosi: It’s about who has the leverage. Like, we killed them on the Omnibus bill. You know why? Because we are united, and they are not. They need our votes; that gives us leverage. They wanted to put all this money into defense. And we said, “We have to have the same amount of money domestically – parity in the increase.†They just don’t believe in domestic investment. Even though the domestic agenda is one-third security. They didn’t want to do it. But then they had to [because House Republicans couldn’t agree on a budget that could also clear the Senate]. And when we got that money, we were able to do much more for opioids, the National Institutes of Health and all these other investments. So unhappy were the Republicans, 90 of them voted against the bill. Just to show how well we did.
If we have the majority, it’s a different negotiation with the president of the United States. He’ll know we’re in a different place.
Q: He’ll know that he has to play ball?
Pelosi: He’ll know that we have the leverage. The gavel. [Picks up a knife, bangs its base on the table.] The gavel makes all the difference in the world … I didn’t mean to pick up the knife. [Laughter.] The awesome power. The speaker has awesome power.
Nancy Pelosi understands power and that is a big problem for Trump
Nancy Pelosi has been in this situation before. As the Speaker of the House, Pelosi has an understanding of power, and she is capable of doing what no Republican Speaker has been able to do. She keeps the Democrats together. If Pelosi is Speaker, Trump will be up against an experienced and savvy check on his power. A Democratic majority House will need a Speaker who can keep Democrats together, and exert their leverage over Donald Trump.
In poll after poll, voters overwhelmingly say that they want to elect a Democratic Congress to act as a check on Trump.
Nancy Pelosi won’t just check Trump. She will test his reputation as a dealmaker and checkmate him.
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Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
