Nancy Pelosi has found a way to work around Donald Trump
As of last night, we no longer have a President of the United States. Donald Trump is nothing more than a diminished-capacity zombie who’s refusing to get tested for the coronavirus even as he publicly shows signs of being gravely ill. With no President, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi finds herself having to work around Trump and Pence in order to manage the crisis.
Nancy Pelosi has bypassed Donald Trump and has begun negotiating directly with Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin on a coronavirus emergency response package, according to USA Today. Mnuchin is a piece of work in his own right, but at least he has a functioning brain. Pelosi isn’t just bypassing Trump here. She’s also bypassing an increasingly hapless Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who appears to have simply thrown up his hands.
There’s been some confusion as to whether the Senate is even still in session, but it doesn’t appear they’re fully going on recess. It appears that Speaker Pelosi is working out a deal with Mnuchin, under the presumption that Mnuchin can get Zombie Trump to sign off on it, and then McConnell will go ahead and rubber stamp it as well. At this point Nancy Pelosi is the de facto President of the United States, and she’s doing what she can to make something happen.
Bill Palmer is the publisher of the political news outlet Palmer Report