How Nancy Pelosi enables Trump’s reelection

A common accusation to any justified leftist critique of the Democratic establishment is that progressives are only helping to reelect Donald Trump. The finger-wagging and guilt-tripping that one would expect from a disappointed mother is the corporate Democrat’s way to hush up valid concerns while deflecting to the devastating consequences of Trump’s second term.

But if Democratic leadership perceives Trump to be a huge threat, they have a funny way of showing it. Their actions demonstrate not only a willingness to negotiate or work with Trump but also an eagerness to throw their constituents under a bus while enabling him. Trump is unquestionably monstrous to the working class in America. But so are the Democrats who consistently join in on his brutality. 

For instance, corporate Democrats like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) have a seemingly unmitigated desire to assist Trump in accomplishing right-wing legislative wins, and there are many examples to prove the point. 

Corporate media encourages voters to focus on Pelosi’s shallow anti-Trump political theater. But last June, as migrant children were dying in Trump’s border cages, Pelosi granted him $4.6 billion in taxpayer money for “border security” with nearly no strings attached. She pressured House Democrats to approve Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s bill void of any amendments demanded by progressives. 

When progressives like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) voted against the measure, citing the brutality at the border, Pelosi attacked them in an interview with Maureen Dowd at the New York Times.

Rep. Ocasio-Cortez was correct in her dissent. In a series of tweets, she explained, “Under no circumstances should the House vote for a McConnell-only bill w/ no negotiation with Democrats. Hell no. That’s an abdication of power we should refuse to accept. They will keep hurting kids if we do.”

In response, Pelosi was outraged and told a fawning Dowd, “If the left doesn’t think I’m left enough, then so be it.” In other words, if kids are dying in Trump’s cages and Pelosi hands him more taxpayer money to enable it, no one has the right to hold her accountable or even vote their conscience.

Pelosi consistently fights progressives in the House when it comes to policies that matter. While she publicly boasts about her supposed efforts to lower pharmaceutical drug prices, in reality, she has gone to war with progressive lawmakers who demand a more robust bill that covers more than a few dozen drugs. As The Intercept reported:

“Pelosi and her staff, led by top health policy aide Wendell Primus, have frozen out progressives from deliberations over the Lower Drug Costs Now Act, exerting extreme control over the process.”

“[Pelosi’s] bill sets a floor of just 25 high-cost drugs that will be negotiated per year, rising to 35 in the tenth year of the bill’s enactment. The Congressional Progressive Caucus and drug-affordability advocates believe this floor will operate as a ceiling, and that a higher minimum of negotiations ought to be mandated.”

As usual, progressives want to fight harder for the American people, and so Pelosi fights harder to stop them.

Pelosi just repealed private health care industry taxes to the tune of $376 billion. And while she considers herself a legislative genius for her role in passing the Affordable Care Act,  the latest House spending bill repeals several private insurance tax increases that were meant to be implemented as part of Obama’s signature health care law. Why is she assisting Republicans in dismantling the health care policy she claims to be extremely protective of?

The answer is pretty simple, regardless of how much America’s ruling class wants to deny it. Through the course of her career, Pelosi has received quite a bit of funding from private insurers and pharmaceutical drug companies. OpenSecrets, which tracks legalized bribery in elections, shows that the House Speaker has taken $1.8 million from health professionals, more than $740,000 from insurance companies, and nearly half a million dollars from pharmaceutical companies.

Pelosi gets paid to lose on behalf of the American people while helping Trump accomplish his objectives. When it comes to the defense budget, Pelosi and her corporate Democrat buddies had no problem approving a whopping $738 billion for the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which means that Trump will get his opportunity to waste taxpayer money on his idiotic space force. 

Proving that Pelosi helps Trump in his reelection bid is easy. But for anyone looking for the perfect example, they should consider her head-scratching press conference on the same day the house announced articles of impeachment. On that very day, the House Speaker proudly announced her willingness to work with Trump on his trade negotiations with North American partners. Fortune reported that:

“Pelosi announced that Democrats had reached an agreement with the White House on a new trade pact with Mexico and Canada, handing the president a legislative accomplishment on one of the signature issues that he could run on in his 2020 re-election campaign.”

Imagine attempting to persuade the public about how someone is a severe and imminent threat to American Democracy, and then turn around less than an hour later to announce that you’re helping that same frightening individual execute his signature trade policy. Democratic leadership keeps doing this over and over again, and they should be held accountable.

More importantly, the press shouldn’t regurgitate corporate Democrat accusations that progressives are “helping Trump win reelection” when they’re the ones fighting him the hardest. 

Ana Kasparian is a host and executive producer of The Young Turks, and host of No Filter on TYT.