Does Nancy Pelosi know something the rest of us don’t? That was the question circulating after an early Wednesday appearance on MSNBC. It wasn’t just Republicans pondering the thought either.
Appearing on “Morning Joe,” Pelosi gave an extremely peculiar answer when asked about current calls for Joe Biden to step down. The president has been besieged by accusations about his mental competence after a disastrous debate performance in late June.
Perhaps Pelosi was just exhibiting some of her own senility, but from her answer, it sure sounded like something was happening behind the scenes.
LEMIRE: So Madam Speaker, you just went through the president’s record, but let me ask you about the current moment. Does he have your support to be the head of the Democratic ticket?
PELOSI: As long as the president has, it’s up to the president to decide if he is going to run. We’re all encouraging him to make that decision because time is running short. The, I think overwhelming support of the caucus, it’s not for me to say, I’m not the head of the caucus anymore, but he’s beloved, he is respected, and people want him to make that decision, not me.
LEMIRE: He has said, he has made the decision. He has said firmly this week he is going to run. Do you want him to run?
PELOSI: I want him to do whatever he decides to do, and that’s the way it is. Whatever he decides, we go with. I think it’s really important, and I would hope everyone would join in, to let him deal with this NATO conference. This is a very big deal. 30 heads, over 30, heads of state are here. He is the host of it, and that means not just hosting, but that means orchestrating the discussion and setting the agenda, and he’s doing so magnificently.
And I’ve said to everyone, let’s just hold off. Whatever you’re thinking, either tell someone privately, but you don’t have to put that out on the table until we see how we go this week.
That clip is absolutely wild. Pelosi seems unaware that Biden has already pledged to stay in the race multiple times since the debate. Yet, when it’s pointed out to her that he’s already made that decision, she doubles down, stating that the issue should be picked back up after “we see how we go this week.”
SEE: Joe Biden Gives Definitive Answer About His Future, and Democrats Are Going to Need a Stiff Drink
I mean, what? Talk about knee-capping your own candidate. Even Democrats were perplexed by her answer.
There are a few possibilities here. One is that Pelosi is just old and doesn’t comprehend that Biden has already made his decision. Another is that she’s not-so-gently nudging the president to reconsider staying in the race, which is astonishing given the tensions within the party. Then there’s the possibility that Pelosi does know something we don’t and that some kind of surprise move is coming, whether that be Biden dropping out or him being forced out.
Regardless of the reason, everything seems to hinge on the president’s “big boy” press conference on Thursday. As RedState reported, Democrats have set Friday as the deadline to have Biden out of the race. If he flubs that presser despite how low the bar is already set, the rush to get him out of the race will be overwhelming. Pelosi seems to be hedging her bets, waiting to see how he performs.
The fact that a major Democrat leader (who has been given the fake title “Speaker Emerita”) won’t just commit to Biden being the nominee at this stage is pretty incredible. The longer this festers, the lower the president’s chances of winning re-election become. That Pelosi and others know the stakes and are still not willing to speak with confidence about Biden’s future is telling. Something is up.
