Trump claims Pelosi is 'no longer speaker' because he's mad about impeachment

Nancy Pelosi is House speaker and she isn’t going anywhere, despite Donald Trump’s claim during a Wednesday meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

“Nancy Pelosi, as far as I’m concerned, unfortunately, she’s no longer speaker of the House,” Trump said after a minutelong rant accusing the Democratic Party of being taken over by “the radical left.”

“She may be radical left herself, but she really has lost her way,” he said.

Trump also falsely accused Democrats, who have begun pressing forward on a formal impeachment inquiry, of not addressing major issues such as gun safety legislation and being too focused on forcing him out.

“I spoke to her about guns yesterday, she didn’t even know what I was talking about,” he continued. “She’s not interested in guns. I’ll tell you what, Nancy Pelosi is not interested in guns, in gun protection, in gun safety, all she’s thinking about is this [impeachment inquiry].”

Trump then claimed the American people were “angry with Democrats” over their decision to focus on impeachment.

Pelosi is, of course, still House speaker.

She was elected to the post in January 2019 by a majority of House members. In fact, this is her second stint in the position, after becoming the first woman speaker when she was elected in 2007.

During her first stretch as speaker, Pelosi worked with President Obama to pass the Recovery Act and help begin an economic turnaround from the Great Recession. Pelosi was also integral in passing the Affordable Care Act, or “Obamacare,” the landmark health care legislation that helped millions of Americans obtain health insurance and provided protections for those with preexisting conditions.

During the Trump era, Pelosi has notched another series of significant accomplishments. After former Speaker Paul Ryan left town amid a partial government shutdown, Pelosi led the House Democrats in an effort to end the shutdown and restore a working government.

Trump should be well aware of Pelosi’s leadership role, as it was she who canceled Trump’s State of the Union address in the midst of that shutdown. It was also Pelosi who led the House Democratic effort to deny Trump billions of dollars to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Her most recent major action as speaker occurred just yesterday, when Pelosi held a press conference announcing the House was launching a formal impeachment inquiry into Trump’s various activities.

In his comments Wednesday, Trump suggested Pelosi was not focused on gun reform. However, one of the first major pieces of legislation passed by the House earlier this year, under Pelosi, was a bipartisan background check bill. The next day, the House passed another piece of gun safety legislation to close a major loophole in gun background checks.

Trump, meanwhile, has not proposed any solutions to the gun violence epidemic and has mostly backed down from his support for such things as red flag laws, under pressure from the NRA.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.