With President Trump acquitted and the Democrats outwitted, House Speak Nancy Pelosi drowned her tears with a tear Tuesday night, destroying a copy of the State of the Union Address on camera when the president concluded his speech. Unfortunately for the California representative, while her office claimed it was a spontaneous act, a camera caught her preparing for her big moment in a manner previously reserved for her money-making deals: under the table.
Trump is currently the one on a tear, with his acquittal, his SOTU’s popularity with independents, his poll numbers rising, and the economy humming. This has only intensified Trump Derangement Syndrome, with Adam Schiff auditioning for a straitjacket by claiming the president could give Alaska to the Russians, AOC accusing him of paying black supporters, pundit Chris Matthews likening support for him to a “deal with the Devil,” and Newsweek’s Jonathan Alter characterizing the SOTU as being like Nazi propaganda (video montage of leftist meltdowns below; hat tip: Whatfinger.com).
Then there was Pelosi’s destined-to-be-a-meme stunt (video below).
“According to the Democratic leader, the gesture ‘was the courteous thing to do considering the alternatives,’” The New American reported Wednesday. “’It was such a dirty speech,’ she added.”
“Pelosi’s ‘tearing’ stunt came after the president appeared to ignore her attempt to shake hands at the beginning of the address,” TNA continued.
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Of course, Trump’s reaction is understandable given that the Democrats — led by a Pelosi in thrall to her party’s radical AOC wing — just spent three years trying to destroy him, greasing the prosecution skids with lies. For the worst form of impoliteness is insincerity in discourse.
Speaking of which, Pelosi’s office claimed that her risible rip was spontaneous, denying claims to the contrary. Yet “a canny observer caught what appears to be the Speaker actually practicing the moves under the table” during the speech, reports the Daily Mail.
“Camera from behind the Speaker also shows the pages ‘pre-ripped’ as Pelosi made her final move when the President’s speech was over,” the paper continued.
As expected, Pelosi’s tearing tantrum drew fire from Republicans. “Vice President Mike Pence called it a ‘new low.’ House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said it was ‘petty,’” TNA also informed.
And “Representative Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) hit right to the point,” TNA further related. “‘We saw Nancy Pelosi ripping up a speech just like Adam Schiff and Nancy Pelosi and others have been trying to rip apart America for the last three years,’ he told Sean Hannity.”
But Pelosi’s problem isn’t Republican ire, which she likely welcomes. It’s not just that the speaker is being effectively mocked, with the Alinsky Prize going to the Babylon Bee for the headline, “Pelosi Defends Ripping Up Trump’s Speech, Saying It Was Just A ‘Clump Of Cells.’”
(Pelosi defended her actions, “saying that tearing things up comes naturally to Democrats, whether those things are speeches about America and patriotism or unborn babies,” the satirical site also wrote.)
Her problem is also this: Other than the AOC/Sanders wing of the Democrat Party, what constituency did Pelosi think this move would please? As the New York Post wrote Tuesday, addressing the speaker, “Have you heard of Albert Einstein’s definition of insanity? The one where he says it’s ‘doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results’?”
While Einstein didn’t actually say that, the paper’s point — that Pelosi is again acting like “a secret Republican agent trying to re-elect President Trump” — is well taken. Note that while the partisan responses to the president’s Tuesday address were as expected, cultural intelligence company CulturIntel’s “new research on the sentiment of over 2.8 million SOTU discussions found that among Independents, 77% of the conversations were positive, while only 18% were negative,” according to information a company representative sent me.
These are the people who’ll decide the next election, mind you.
Thus could some suspect that the president’s handshake snub might have been premeditated itself, another classic Trumpian act designed to drive the opposition to self-destructive irrationality. I’ll guess otherwise, applying Duke’s razor: Never attribute to the intellect what is better explained by emotion. But you never know.
Explaining Pelosi, however, may be easier. As Breitbart’s John Nolte recently opined, far from being the “kind of master strategist” she’s portrayed as, the impeachment fiasco “proves Nancy Pelosi is an idiot.”
Whatever the case, her tear, like her tears, was driven by emotion and could win the Dumbest Premeditated Act of the Year award. It was juvenile, vindictive, and petty and won’t play well in Peoria.
So grow up, Nancy. No one gives a rip about your feelings.
Photo of Rep. Pelosi: AP Images
Selwyn Duke (@SelwynDuke) has written for The New American for more than a decade. He has also written for The Hill, Observer, The American Conservative, WorldNetDaily, American Thinker, and many other print and online publications. In addition, he has contributed to college textbooks published by Gale-Cengage Learning, has appeared on television, and is a frequent guest on radio.
