Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Republicans told her Democrats “have to beat” former President Trump in November’s election for politics to return to normal.
Pelosi met with MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell on Wednesday to discuss the new Democratic candidate, the attacks Trump has received from the far-right since taking office, and her recently published book, “The Art of Power.”
“The Republican Party has been hijacked and now it’s a cult. Republicans need to take it back because we need a strong Republican Party in our republic,” Pelosi said.
The California Democrat said the Republican Party has done “great things” and served the country well during its leadership, but questioned the politics of the Trump administration: “What happens now?”
“So, either way, we have to win the election,” she said.
“Some Republicans have told me, ‘You can’t win the primary, you have to win the general election and then we’ll get back to talking about the issues,'” Pelosi said of Trump and his new running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio).
Pelosi and Trump have traded blows for years. She was one of the former president’s harshest critics during his time in office. Book Details Her experience inside the Capitol on January 6, 2021, when Trump supporters came looking for her.
Pelosi said she left the decision entirely to the president, despite reports this fall that she led a pressure campaign to remove Biden from the running.
Pelosi, one of the most powerful and influential Democratic lawmakers, said she did not make a single call during the transition period after the first presidential debate.
Pelosi formally endorsed Vice President Harris last month, expressing her “great pride and boundless optimism for the future of our country.”
