The Week in Washington: Speaker Pelosi Is “Never Afraid and Rarely Surprised”
“Fear is never a word used with me. You should know right away … I’m never afraid and I’m rarely surprised,” Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi told Politico on Thursday. We wish we could say the same—we are constantly afraid and frequently surprised. We were taken back when, in the debate leading up to the impeachment vote on Wednesday, Republican Rep. Mike Kelly compared Trump's situation to the bombing of Pearl Harbor, and our jaws dropped when Rep. Barry Louderback compared the president’s tribulations to those of Jesus Christ and alleged that Trump has actually suffered more. But we did kind of like it when Rep. Bill Johnson held a moment of silence for the people who voted for Trump, declaring “this partisan impeachment sham seeks to disenfranchise 63 million American voters,” since the pause was better than hearing him blather. (Hey Bill—just to remind you, Hillary won the popular vote.) Despite these stirring arguments, the two articles of impeachment, condemning the president for abuse of power and obstruction of congress, passed Wednesday night, and Donald J. Trump became the third president in American history to be impeached.
At the very moment of his impeachment, Trump was at a rally in Michigan, where he raged, scarlet-faced and pouring sweat, for over two hours. He referred to his situation as "Impeachment Lite"; he once again offered a digression on toilet flushing; and he appeared to hit a new low when he went off on a mean-spirited rant about the late John Dingell, who served in Congress for 59 years. (Trump was furious because Dingell’s widow, now a member of Congress, voted in favor of impeachment.) Even faithful lapdog Lindsey Graham thought the Dingell attack was a bridge too far. Straining at his leach, he told reporters, “The bottom line is, it's not a funny joke ..."
In another twist of the knife, Pelosi has not yet delivered the articles of impeachment to the Senate, and administration officials are apparently floating the idea that, strictly speaking, this means the president has not officially been impeached. (Fat chance.) The speaker says she is sitting on the documents until a fair trial is insured by the senate, but with Moscow Mitch at the helm, stonewalling as per usual, things are presently at a stalemate.
In other news, this week two different religious groups were united, at least temporarily, in their desire to hold the administration to account. On Thursday, the evangelical publication Christianity Today, founded by Billy Graham, ran an editorial supporting impeachment, which read in part, “The facts in this instance are unambiguous: The president of the United States attempted to use his political power to coerce a foreign leader to harass and discredit one of the president’s political opponents. That is not only a violation of the Constitution; more importantly, it is profoundly immoral.” And in an open letter to the White House, 25 Jewish members of Congress called upon Trump to dump his venal senior advisor Steven Miller: “His documentation of white nationalist and virulently anti-immigrant tropes is wholly unacceptable and disqualifying for a government employee.”
Speaking of letters, we are sure you have received many odd holiday presents in your time, but we bet none rivaled the gift Trump sent out to members of congress. Along with not one but two Christmas cards, he included a replica of his recent missive to Pelosi, a six-page screed that he sent the speaker right before his impeachment. Because nothing says happy holidays like a copy of an unhinged letter from the guy who has his finger on the nuclear button.
Originally Appeared on Vogue
