For months leading up to Election Day, Republicans on up to President Trump often accused House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) of stalling a deal on the COVID relief bill. They claimed she was doing it because she wanted to hurt Trump’s reelection chances and also give Joe Biden an early legislative victory within weeks of the presidential election, assuming he won it.
Pelosi’s consistent excuse anytime she was asked why she was holding up progress on a deal between the Democratic House and the Republican Senate was that it wasn’t nearly enough money, that the Senate’s bill fell far short of what was needed. Instead of coming to an agreement with Sen. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), she said in so many words that she’d only consider a compromise if Republicans in the Senate came around more to her way of thinking.
One month after the election, and with Joe Biden on the verge of being certified as the winner barring a last-minute miracle for the Trump campaign, Pelosi announced during her weekly presser that she was now open to a smaller COVID relief bill package that was being crafted by a bipartisan group in the Senate.
Pelosi was questioned during the press briefing as to what made her suddenly change her mind. “What has shifted now, when they’re on board with this piece that’s come out of the Senate?”, asked one.
The House Speaker appeared agitated by the question. Making animated finger-pointing gestures, Pelosi admitted she wanted to wait until after the election when presumably Joe Biden would be declared the winner of the presidential race.
“Perhaps you missed what I said earlier,” she snapped at the reporter. “Joe Biden committed to ending and crushing the virus and having a Build Back Better America initiative. A vaccine — answer to our prayers, an answer to our prayers — of 95% effectiveness in terms of Pfizer and Moderna, and there may be others coming forward. That makes — that is a total game-changer: a new president and a vaccine.”
It’s very rare that you see a national political leader admit to what Pelosi just had. “That is a total game-changer: a new president and a vaccine.”
“Don’t characterize what we did before as a mistake as a preface to your question, if you want an answer. That was not a mistake; it was a decision.”
Speaker Nancy Pelosi
It was clear prior to the election we’d be getting the vaccine in record time thanks in no small part to Trump’s aggressive push and Operation Warp Speed. But what wasn’t clear was who’d win the presidential race. So, what Pelosi’s change of heart boiled down to was not the vaccine, but the strong likelihood Joe Biden would be certified the winner. As a result, she dropped her opposition to a smaller relief bill so he would get credit for it, not Trump.
When she was asked a follow-up question wondering if she thought it was “a mistake though not to accept half of a loaf months ago,” considering she’d previously stated she wouldn’t, an angry Pelosi blasted the reporter.
“Look, I’m going to tell you something,” she snipped. “Don’t characterize what we did before as a mistake as a preface to your question, if you want an answer. That was not a mistake; it was a decision.”
It was a “decision” she’d admitted moments earlier was made totally based on election-year politics.
How many suffered because of the cold-blooded stunt Pelosi pulled over this bill?
We’ll never know, but one thing we do know is that she should not be let off the hook for it in the court of public opinion. Though the mainstream media has moved on from her stunning admission in a way they wouldn’t have had it come from a Republican, the American people should not forget that her politically-calculated actions hurt a lot of people.
All in the name of politics.
Media analyst Stacey Matthews has also written under the pseudonym Sister Toldjah and is a regular contributor to RedState and Legal Insurrection.
