With her pathetic partisan decision to rip up her copy of President Trump’s State of the Union address, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi gifted Trump a new election advert on Tuesday.
You can see the campaign ad now. It begins by showing Democrats on the Senate floor, proudly claiming their impeachment trial is about serving the nation’s bipartisan interest. Then we see Pelosi standing up and slowly, repeatedly ripping Trump’s speech in half. We then jump to a shot of Trump celebrating Tuskegee Airman Bri. Gen. Charles McGee and his great-grandson. We then see soundbite of Trump proclaiming his economy, and its record-low rates of minority unemployment.
Suddenly, Trump’s less than auspicious conduct toward Ukraine is forgotten.
Thus follows the question: What on Earth was Pelosi thinking?
While Pelosi’s paper antics will surely earn adoration from the Democratic activist and donor base, they are unlikely to earn Democrats many new claps from independent voters. Because they paint the picture of a party that is far more concerned about partisan pageantry than it is about the nation’s better interest. And in a week where Democrats have already detonated a thermonuclear size public relations bomb under their first primary contest, the party’s credibility is suddenly looking very weak.
Trump needs two things to get reelected: voters to focus on his economic record and to forget about his extreme personal insults. If he does so, he can win the Rust Belt and Midwestern states that secured his victory in 2016.
We have many months yet until November 2020. Tonight, however, Democrats came across as pathological partisans. And Trump came across as a Republican who cares about minority unemployment, criminal justice reform, and keeping the nation safe.
Sorry, Madam Speaker, the paper gamble ain’t going to pay off.
