Nancy Pelosi achieves checkmate

| 12:01 pm EST January 17, 2019
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When you need a haircut, you find a barber. When you need brain surgery, you find a neurosurgeon. Yesterday, Nancy Pelosi showed us that when you need political savvy, you elect a politician. The well-known pomp and circumstance of the State of the Union Address is the sitting President’s opportunity to come before the nation and provide, well, the state of our union. The Speaker of the House is a powerful position, and Donald Trump is finding out just how skillfully Nancy Pelosi uses her gavel.

Pelosi is indeed the surgeon with the knife. This political skill is the reason the Republicans hate her with so much intensity. It is the reason she commands so much respect. Yesterday, she essentially revoked the House’s invitation to the President of the United States to get what he loves most, an audience of millions and worldwide television coverage. Most importantly, she deprived him of the opportunity to stand before the world and blame the Democrats for the web of horror that is a result of the Trump Shutdown.

Pelosi shredded the Stephen Miller word-smithed speech before it was completed. There will be no bragging about the economy while the government remains shutdown under the thumb of Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell. There will be no misplaced blame, claiming that the Democrats don’t care about our safety. There will be no standing, cheering, party-line celebrations. Reminding Trump of his embarrassing broadcast from the Oval Office recently, Pelosi suggested the Oval Office as his stage, knowing that it is the roar of the crowd that uplifts Trump, while the Oval Office gave us a less than impressive performance.

No one was swayed by Donald Trump’s sleepy, inarticulate, inaccurate speech. As people suffer without their paychecks, and the true trickle down effect of the Trump Shutdown rears its ugly head, Donald Trump has consistently shown us why his presidency is a grand mistake. When you need a leader of the free world, you don’t choose a two-bit game show host with an endless list of failed businesses.