‘I’ve never seen such disgraceful behavior from any other speaker of the house. I was ashamed of you. I used to admire you. No more…’
(Ben Sellers, Liberty Headlines) In the culmination of a series of devastating recent political setbacks for Democrats, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., may have been wise to follow the lead of her congressional colleagues like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio–Cortez, D-NY, who opted to stay home during Tuesday’s State of the Union address.
Last year, the newly-reinstated speaker had used her position on an elevated dais above the president to mock Trump, asserting what Democrats and media allies sought to frame as a co-equal counterbalance and check on his executive authority.
But Trump’s policy successes, in spite of the unprecedented adversity he has encountered in Congress, relegated a more subdued Pelosi to the background for much of his speech Tuesday—until the end.
Pelosi, who seemed during the delivery to be intently studying the pages set before her by the president, made a late show of tearing up her copy of the speech.
You mad?
— Mike Cernovich (@Cernovich) February 5, 2020
Much like the recent House impeachment efforts, however, that action seemed to be a grave miscalculation on her part—at least according to social media.
Here’s some paperwork that deserves being torn to shreds. #PettyPelosi pic.twitter.com/K6eTxxfCQN
— ? Savannah Five-Oh ?♂️ (@DevilinGeorgia) February 5, 2020
Most significantly, according to one of Congress’s newest additions, Rep. Dan Bishop, R-NC, it may have been illegal.
Delivered into her custody pursuant to Article II, Section 3, Clause 1 of the Constitution. Its destruction appears to be a crime punishable by, among other things, removal from office. 18 U.S.C. 2071(b). https://t.co/w3Hz0XQbNB
— Dan Bishop (@jdanbishop) February 5, 2020
Regardless of whether Pelosi faces accountability for her actions, they underscored a common theme of the night that the Left’s priorities ran largely counter to the country’s best interests.
The president subtly conveyed the message while never directly mentioning the partisan impeachment process, set to conclude Wednesday with a likely acquittal.
“Members of Congress, we must never forget that the only victories that matter in Washington are victories that deliver for the American people,” Trump said in the speech.
The failure to achieve what many presume to be Democrats’ desired outcome—the removal of the president—was accented this week by a disastrous Iowa primary debacle to formally kick off the Democratic presidential nominating contest.
The fallout resulted in some of the most heated intra-party quibbling thus far of the campaign season, with a quick and decisive resolution to Democrats’ candidate woes seeming like a distant dream in its wake.
Moreover, a recent Gallup poll prior to the State of the Union revealed that Trump was enjoying his highest approval numbers to date, with his flawlessly delivered, emotionally poignant speech likely to further sell his case.
Pelosi, by contrast, drew decisive backlash on the Wednesday talk-show circuit and on social media for her reaction, which yielded the trending hashtag #PettyPelosi.
I’m 62, an independent, have seen every SOTU as an adult. I’ve never seen such disgraceful behavior from any other speaker of the house. I was ashamed of you. I used to admire you. No more.
— DeeDee Catmama (@speechteacher19) February 5, 2020
Some, on both sides of the aisle, noted that her symbolic snark was inconsistent with her capitulation to Trump on several of his agenda items.
Ripping up Trump’s speech doesn’t impress me. Want to impress me? Stop approving his military budget increases. Stop extending his domestic spying powers. Stop giving him every goddamn thing he wants.#PelosiTantrum #PettyPelosi #PelosiRocks
— Anomaly ? ? (@spatial_anomaly) February 5, 2020
Did Pelosi rip up Trump’s military budgets?
No! She signed them.
Did Pelosi rip up Trump’s Patriot Act extension?
No! She signed it.
Did Pelosi rip up Trump’s court appointees?
No! She fast tracked them.
But she ripped up his speech.
So, Yass Kween!#PettyPelosi #PelosiMeltdown— Hanx Fingers ⏳ (@HanxFingers) February 5, 2020
Conservatives, meanwhile, made sure to have their say. The White House led the way by noting that Pelosi’s action was not an insult to Trump but to the American people he invoked in the speech who had fought and sacrificed for their country.
Speaker Pelosi just ripped up:
One of our last surviving Tuskegee Airmen.
The survival of a child born at 21 weeks.
The mourning families of Rocky Jones and Kayla Mueller.
A service member’s reunion with his family.
That’s her legacy.
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) February 5, 2020
— Rita Panahi (@RitaPanahi) February 5, 2020
You seem to think that tearing up that speech was about rejecting Trump.
No, that speech contained stories about the triumphs and sorrows of our brothers, sisters, cousins, neighbors and fellow Americans who have died.
We felt what you did… **TO US**, not to Trump#Appalling
— Joe the Dissident (@joethepatriotic) February 5, 2020
The radical Left eventually scrambled to circulate some of its own trending hashtags defending the move. But the clear undercurrent was that the action—albeit cathartic to Pelosi’s radicalized base—was, at best, sinking to the level of their reviled Oval Office nemesis.
Although many tried to deflect the action back onto Trump, the optics seemed destined to place the San Francisco liberal and her supporters on the wrong side of this momentous and historic juncture.
How America saw Pelosi’s act last night. #PettyPelosi pic.twitter.com/RtV4LI6koV
— ? Savannah Five-Oh ?♂️ (@DevilinGeorgia) February 5, 2020