CHICAGO — Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) did what she had to do Wednesday night in her speech at the Democratic National Convention.
She hailed President Joe Biden for his legacy. She celebrated Vice President Kamala Harris as the party’s new nominee, calling her a “leader of strength and wisdom and eloquence.” She warned how dangerous Donald Trump would be as president in a second term.
And then, she left.
It was a surprisingly short speech. She talked a little bit about the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. That day was a “perilous moment for our democracy,” she said. And just as Democrats protected it that day, Pelosi said, they are being called upon to do it again by voting for Harris in November – and preventing Trump from ever entering the White House again.
Her brief remarks about Biden were the most delicate. She declared him the force behind “one of the most successful presidencies of modern times,” ticking off his successes with job creation, infrastructure investment and lowering the cost of prescription drugs.
“Thank you, Joe,” Pelosi said.
Moments later, she was back to celebrating Harris. “Onward to victory!” she declared.
Everything about this Democratic convention ― the lofty speeches, the wonky panels, the volunteer training, the surging excitement ― is aimed at one thing: lifting up Harris as the party’s new leader and the person best positioned to defeat Trump in November.
But the person really at the center of it is Pelosi.
One month ago today, Biden dropped his reelection bid amid Democratic fears that he was on track to lose to Trump and hand Republicans full control of not just the White House, but Congress too.
The concerns began in earnest with his disastrous debate performance in late June. Within a couple of weeks, as Biden failed to demonstrate he simply had a bad night, they morphed into full-blown panic. As he tried to fendoff questions about his mental acuity, Biden was tanking in the polls, big donors were backing out and vulnerable elected Democrats were distancing themselves from him.
Biden dug in for a while, enduring weeks of humiliation as Democratic lawmakers publicly urged him to “pass the torch” to someone else. But privately, Pelosi was waging her own pressure campaign. As a decades-long colleague, ally and friend to the president, she was one of a handful of people with the sway to directly influence Biden.
It’s not clear what, exactly, Pelosi told him in her private conversations with him. But the message delivered by the former speaker, who is laser-focused on defeating Trump above all else, is obvious: You’re about to hand the U.S. presidency to a twice-impeached convicted felon intent on destroying American democracy, and also hand over Congress to his GOP allies. You need to step aside.
Since then, the political landscape has changed dramatically. Harris is the nominee. She’s way up in the polls, with a much stronger chance of winning than Biden had. Voter enthusiasm is off the charts, money is pouring into Democratic coffers, Trump is flailing and Biden is being hailed as a hero for putting the country before himself.
This is precisely how Pelosi wanted things to change — and used her statureto make it happen. She was even reportedly advocating for Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz to be Harris’ pick for vice president before she chose him.
“Look at the response they are getting. What is more eloquent than what we saw last night in Philadelphia?” she told HuffPost and other reporters in a pre-convention interview, beaming about Harris and Walz’s campaign launch. “The response from … our members in the House, the volunteers, the small-donor contributions and all of the enthusiasm, the hope, the joy, in their districts.”
Everyone at the Democratic convention knows Pelosi was key to orchestrating this moment. Some House Democrats were spotted wearing pins with Pelosi’s face on them next to the word “Godmother,” a reference to the movie “The Godfather.” The former House speaker isn’t apologizing for her role in Biden’s decision to step aside, either. She’s been making appearances at events all over Chicago, emphasizing how thrilled and excited she is by the Harris-Walz ticket — and the reality that Democrats are in a better position to beat Trump.
Even Mindy Kaling, the actor who hosted the night’s festivities, seemed to acknowledge the role Pelosi has played in rearranging the top of the ticket.
“The woman who was doing brat before brat was brat, the mother of dragons, Nancy Pelosi!” Kaling said, as she introduced her.
The mother of dragons, Nancy Pelosi!Mindy Kaling
There is still tension between Pelosi and Biden. They still haven’t spoken since he dropped his bid for a second term. The California Democrat has shown rare flashes of guilt at hurting her friend, someone she hasotherwise proudly hailed as an exceptional leader and just a good person.
On Monday night, as the president stood on stage amid deafening cheers and gratitude from the thousands of Democratic delegates gathered to hear him speak, Pelosi was spotted right up there in front, misty-eyed and waving a sign: “We
“I’ve cried over this,” she said at a Wednesday morning event with David Axelrod, a former top aide to President Barack Obama. “I’m sad about this.”
Pelosi still won’t say what she said to Biden in their talks about his sinking campaign, though she’s acknowledged they did talk about this. She declined to give any details to Axelrod on Wednesday, and previously refused to tell HuffPost if she ever directly told the president he had to go, for the good of the party and for the country.
“Maybe one of these days, I’ll write that,” is all she said, suggesting she’d perhaps share it in a book one day. “I pray over that.”
