On Sunday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) appeared on one of President Donald Trump's favorite networks—Fox News—to speak with host Chris Wallace about the ongoing efforts of Congress to relieve small businesses who've been forced to shutter in the wake of the viral pandemic that's upended daily life in the United States.
Pelosi didn't waste time in pointing out the failures in Trump's response to the virus.
Watch below.
Nancy Pelosi on small business relief program, Trump's plan to reopen nationyoutu.be
Wallace asked Pelosi about recent comments in which she called the President a weak leader in the face of the crisis, noting that a lot of its damage could've been prevented had the President not dismissed the virus' threat and taken earlier action.
He asked if Pelosi's comments accelerated the partisanship in a similar way to the insults hurled by Donald Trump.
Pelosi said:
"The President's made many mistakes. Okay, let's have an after-action review of that, but...to proceed with policies which were not science-based, which were not evidence-based, and to blame others—blame anybody."
"Blame the governors, blame me, blame the World Health Organization. Leaders take responsibility, so I said he's a weak leader."
"He doesn't take responsibility. He places blame on others."
Unsurprisingly, Trump was none to happy about this, and posted a tweet calling Pelosi "inherently dumb."
Pelosi, however, is right. The President has frequently passed the blame for his administration's response on to others. When asked about the botched testing kits built under his administration—three years into his Presidency.
Nevertheless, Trump said:
"Look, I told you, we inherited a lot of garbage. We took -- they had tests that were no good...it came from somewhere, so whoever came up with it."
He's blamed the Obama administration, governors, China, the World Health Organization, and others while refusing to take accountability for himself.
His latest attack on Pelosi only reminded people of the lack of leadership she described.
Trump's call for Pelosi to be "overthrown, either by the inside or out" struck many as insidious.
It's not the first time Trump has been accused of using the language of traitors and tyrants.
His supporters—especially those following the QAnon conspiracy theory—heard what he meant them to hear.
Once again, Trump carelessly hurls dangerous rhetoric and veiled calls for violence against his duly elected critics.
Christine Pelosi's book about her mother, The Nancy Pelosi Way: Advice on Success, Leadership, and Politics from America's Most Powerful Woman, is available here.
