Nancy Pelosi made a spectacular ass of herself ripping up Donald Trump’s State of the Union Address (an address she invited him to deliver, by the way). But according to the Washington Post’s Greg Sargent, even if Pelosi’s gesture constitutes a breach of decorum — and he’s not sure if it does — it’s nothing compared to what Donald Trump has done to our country. To our democracy:
Opinion: Pelosi ripped up a speech.
Trump is ripping up our democracy. https://t.co/CSicSWek2m
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) February 5, 2020
Sargent explains:
But there’s a more precise point to be made here. If the underlying premise of the criticism of breaches of decorum is that they pose a threat to our democracy’s functioning, then much of what Trump has done well beyond such breaches — for three years now — actually does pose a severe threat to that functioning, while acts like Pelosi’s actually do not pose any remotely comparable threat.
This isn’t whataboutism. It’s meant to correct a massive category error. Breaches in civility are not the main threat to our political system. Indeed, if Trump only went on half-cocked rally rants and merely insulted Democrats, the current damage would not be nearly as severe.It’s all the other misconduct that threatens the fabric of democracy — Trump’s unchecked lawlessness, his abuses of power, his public racism, his unprecedented lying, his treatment of the opposition as illegitimate.
In this context, hand-wringing about a mutual deterioration of decorum — the New York Times discerned a “mutual snubbing,” while an NBC reporter sniffed that Pelosi indulged in “antics” that are “Trumpian” — is profoundly misleading about the wildly asymmetrical realities of the moment.
One of the complaints about Trump in this trash fire article is "his treatment of the opposition as illegitimate." #ProjectionOverload https://t.co/ty1VnelTlg
— Doug Powers (@ThePowersThatBe) February 5, 2020
Greg can spin until he falls over. It doesn’t change the fact that Nancy Pelosi came off looking far worse than Donald Trump last night. And Sargent looks pretty bad for defending her.
— Mr. Jeremy J. Turner, Esq. (@MrJeremyTurner) February 5, 2020
Time and a place to express your position. She disrespected her position by her paper tantrum.
— Evelia (@Evelia99417463) February 5, 2020
Pelosi looked petulant and juvenile last night.
— Roy Biker (@roybiker123) February 5, 2020
Pelosi screwed up on live TV is what she did.
— Devil Pup??? (@DevilPup74) February 5, 2020
She screwed up bigly.
Also worth noting:
https://twitter.com/KobbeMalak/status/1225109085034438656
We don’t live in a democracy thankfully.
— Whiskey, Esq. ? (@LibertyRalston) February 5, 2020
But the Democratic Party is dying in broad daylight.
Meanwhile:
CC: Iowa Caucus
— GWW????☠️ (@OfficialGWW) February 5, 2020
Do we know who won Iowa yet? https://t.co/ulMvZFifTH
— Stephen Miller (@redsteeze) February 5, 2020
Who won Iowa?
— CD (@ChrisDiorio70) February 5, 2020
We may never know. And that’s most definitely not Trump’s fault.
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