Review: The Art of Power – Pelosi Critiques Trump

As speaker of the US House, Nancy Pelosi faced off against Donald Trump in budget battles, mocked him at the State of the Union, and earned a notable place in his mind. Trump, the self-proclaimed “very stable genius,” often called her “crazy Nancy,” while she referred to him as a “psychopathic nut.” As a mother of five and grandmother to ten, she knew a thing or two about unruly behavior.

Hakeem Jeffries now leads House Democrats, but Pelosi, 84, still holds significant influence, evident from her recent role in advising Joe Biden’s campaign strategy.

“I wasn’t asking him to step down,” Pelosi mentioned, “I was asking for a campaign that can win. And I wasn’t seeing that on the horizon.”

In her second memoir, The Art of Power: My Story as America’s First Woman Speaker of the House, with contributions from her speechwriter Aaron Bennett and author Lyric Winik, Pelosi offers a revealing yet straightforward account of her career and experiences.

The memoir reveals her deep pain over the October 2022 attack on her husband, Paul Pelosi, by David DePape, a far-right conspiracy theorist. DePape’s actions echoed the chants of “Where’s Nancy?” heard during the Capitol riot on January 6th, 2021.

As the daughter of a Baltimore mayor, Pelosi is no stranger to political grudges. She recalls how Donald Trump Jr mocked the attack on her husband by sharing a meme with a hammer, captioned, “Got my Paul Pelosi Halloween costume ready,” on Twitter.

Just a few years later, Thomas Matthew Crooks came close to shooting Trump at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania, highlighting the violent undertone of the Trump era, which Pelosi deeply regrets.

Despite political differences, Pelosi emphasizes her rapport with some Republicans. She remembers John McCain, the late senator and presidential candidate, as a friend. McCain secretly shared his intent to vote against repealing the Affordable Care Act, a key GOP objective during Trump’s administration.

Pelosi also recalls collaborating with John Boehner, a Republican from Ohio, and John Paulson, treasury secretary under George W. Bush, during the 2008 financial crisis. Although her relationship with Bush was complex, she thwarted attempts to impeach him over the Iraq war, despite pressure from her party and encouragement from Trump.

Pelosi’s political finesse is evident in an episode detailed by Bethany McLean and Joe Nocera in All the Devils Are Here: The Hidden History of the Financial Crisis. She and Boehner overruled Paulson’s objection to expanding government guarantees of jumbo mortgages, with Pelosi humorously showing Paulson a note from Boehner that read, “Let’s roll Hank.”

She also criticizes Republicans like Newt Gingrich, describing the House under his leadership as unhealthy for “children and other living things.”

The memoir touches on international relations, especially between the US and China. Pelosi claims her expertise on China is unmatched in Congress and criticizes administrations, Republican and Democrat, for ignoring human rights abuses. She particularly denounces George H.W. Bush for his lenient stance following the Tiananmen Square massacre and mocks Max Baucus’s misplaced optimism regarding China’s development.

On Trump’s indifference to the Uyghurs, China’s oppressed Muslim minority, Pelosi recounts a meeting where Trump relayed that President Xi Jinping claimed the Uyghurs “liked being in those camps.” Pelosi retorted, “That’s what authoritarians always say.”

Trump’s admiration for strongmen like Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un, and his praise of Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro, whom he commended for allegedly improving Caracas’s safety, is also noted. However, the Global Organized Crime Index ranks Venezuela as having the world’s highest crime rate.

Pelosi continues to serve in Congress, representing San Francisco for over 37 years. She’s witnessed a multitude of historic events, including the certification of Joe Biden’s election victory in the early hours of January 7, 2021, following the Capitol riot.

Declaring to those attempting to thwart democracy, Pelosi said, “You have failed.” Trump, however, remains a persistent threat. The upcoming election will reveal whether Pelosi’s efforts have once again thwarted his ambitions.

Source: The Guardian