Nation

Pelosi rips into AOC and ‘the Squad’, excerpts from new biography reveal

Published

2 years ago

April 12, 2021

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) laid into “the Squad” when discussing the group of House progressives to author Susan Page, whose book “Madam Speaker: Nancy Pelosi and the Lessons of Power” hits store shelves next week.

In Monday’s Axios report on some tidbits from the biography, the top House Democrat during one instance adopted a child-like voice when discussing the Squad and its figurehead, self-described democratic socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.).

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“You’re not a one-person show. This is the Congress of the United States,” Pelosi said in some blunt advice to the progressive clique, in the book.

Page, USA Today‘s Washington D.C. bureau chief, conducted 10 interviews with Pelosi for the biography that’s coming out on Tuesday, April 20, according to a lengthy, adapted excerpt from the book published Friday on the newspaper’s website.

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Pelosi asked friends and family to partake in the process too, with Page having interviewed more than 150 other friends, family members, political allies and adversaries for the biography.

In Page’s second meeting with Pelosi—sometime in July 2019—the author said that Pelosi’s dispute with the Squad had “exploded” and that “her anger at the four new progressive congresswomen was palpable.” This meeting would have occurred a little over six months after all four founding Squad members—Reps. Ilhan Omar (Minn.), Rashida Tlaib (Mich.), Ayanna Pressley (Mass.), and Ocasio-Cortez—took office for the first time.

Pelosi held a meeting with Ocasio-Cortez later that month in order to reduce tensions, according to The Daily Mail.

In the book, Pelosi also discussed former President Donald Trump, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), and others.

You can follow Douglas Braff on Twitter @DouglasPBraff.

Featured

Trump: Tanks to Ukraine could escalate to use of ‘NUKES’

Published

1 day ago

January 26, 2023

Alexander Carter

Former President Donald Trump stated bluntly on Truth Social, “FIRST COME THE TANKS, THEN COME THE NUKES. Get this crazy war ended, NOW. So easy to do!”

Trump was referring to the escalation of war in Ukraine. He, like many other commentators and lawmakers, are warning that the decision to continue sending weapons – and now tanks – could potentially lead to the use of “nuclear weapons.”

It’s mission creep and it’s dangerous, they say.

Why? Because Russian President Valdimir Putin has indicated in two different speeches that he would use nuclear weapons to defend Russia, if needed. Those warnings are not just bluster but a very real possibility.

And the escalation of war is visible.

Russia launched 55 missiles strikes across Ukraine Thursday, leaving 11 dead. The strikes come one day after the United States and Germany agreed to send tanks to Ukraine in an effort to aide the country. 47 of the 55 missiles were shot down according to Ukraine’s Air Force command.

Eleven lives were lost and another 11 were injured additionally leaving 35 buildings damaged in the wake of the attacks. According to The New York Times, Denys Shmyhal, said in a post on Telegram. “The main goal is energy facilities, providing Ukrainians with light and heat,” he said.

Ukraine is now demanding that they need F-16 fighter jets. In a post on twitter Ukrainian lawmaker, Oleksiy Goncharenko said, “Missiles again over Ukraine. We need F16.”

Morning. Missiles again over Ukraine. We need F16.

— Oleksiy Goncharenko (@GoncharenkoUa) January 26, 2023

The US has abstained from sending advanced jets in the chances that a volatile decision could foster more dangerous attacks like former President Trump’s post on Truth referred to. If the US did authorize the decision to lend Ukraine the F-16 jets Netherlands’ foreign minister, Wopke Hoekstra, would be willing to supply them. According to The New York Times, Hoekstra told Dutch lawmakers, “We are open-minded… There are no taboos.”

F-16 fighter jets are complex to work on, they are not the average aircraft that can be learned in a matter of weeks. It can take months for pilots to learn how to fly these birds. European and US officials have the concern that Ukrainian forces could potentially use the jets to fly into Russian airspace and launch attacks on Russian soil.

Western allies are trying to avoid such a provocation, because that could lead to nuclear warfare in reference to what Putin has said he would do to defend his country.