(This post may contain disputed claims. We make no assertions as to the validity of the information presented by our Opinion Columnist. We are an opinion blog, not a traditional news outlet, and this post should be treated as such. Enjoy.)Nancy Pelosi broke the House of Representatives rules and was booed yesterday afternoon as she attempted to trash President Donald Trump and officially make sure he is “on the record as a racist.” But that was just the beginning as she was put into a “time out” and stormed off the floor. Then, all hell broke loose within the House chamber. You’ll love this.
Last week, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called Nancy Pelosi “racist.” After the Speaker attempted to distance herself and the Democratic Party from AOC and her three cohorts’ disastrous socialist policies, Ocasio-Cortez accused Nancy of “explicit singling out of newly elected women of color.”
Now, fast forward to this week, and you’d think Pelosi would know better than to fall for “the squad’s” antics of playing the race and victim card against President Trump. Ocasio-Cortez and Rep. Ilhan Omar wanted Pelosi to call out Trump officially and publicly from the House floor, and it went all wrong.
It should be noted here Pelosi refused to censure Rep. Ilhan Omar for her anti-Semitic rhetoric back in March.
Pelosi had delivered a statement calling the president racist as a prelude to voting on a House resolution to that effect. Rep. Chris Collins (R-GA) raised a point of order, objecting that Pelosi’s statement was a violation of House rules.
“It’s so sad because you would think that there would be a given that we would universally in this body just say ‘of course, of course,’” Pelosi remarked. “There is no excuse for any response to those words but a swift and strong, unified condemnation.”
“Every single member of this institution– Democratic and Republican– should join us in condemning the president’s racist tweets,” she continued.
“To do anything less would be a shocking rejection of our values and a shameful abdication of our oath of office to protect the American people,” she added, sparking boos from others in the room.
That’s when Rep. Doug Collins (R-GA) chimed in as Pelosi yielded the remainder of her time and asked if she wanted to rephrase her remarks.
“I have cleared my remarks with the parliamentarian before I read them,” Pelosi said flippantly as she walked off. Collins asked her once again if she wanted to strike here comments (about Trump) before he formally told the parliamentarian in charge he was formally filing charges.
That’s when things got really crazy on the House floor.
“The scene then became even more bizarre when the chair, Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Mo., told representatives after a lengthy huddle that he was trying to make a fair ruling as to whether Pelosi had broken House rules governing decorum, but people weren’t cooperating. Cleaver told Fox News he felt Pelosi was being singled out,” Fox News reports.
Cleaver simply declared, “I abandon the chair,” and left — a moment with no apparent precedent in modern congressional history.
So at this point, Nancy storms off and so does the Democrat who is supposed to be in charge of the House floor. Pelosi is then put in a “time out” which is part of the rule cited by Collins.
The rule Rep. Collins was citing also says you cannot say from the House floor that the president is a “racist” or a “bigot.” This is straight from Jefferson’s Manual of Parliamentary Practice which outlines the rules for the House.
1/ So, here's the thing: That's not a standing rule of the House; it's a precedential ruling of the chair, set down in the annotated version of Jefferson's Manual of Parliamentary Practice contained in the House Manual. https://t.co/aomVsuWQXc
— Josh Chafetz (@joshchafetz) July 16, 2019
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) took the chair and brought with him a decision — one that surprised his own party. He ruled from the position of the chair that Pelosi’s words were not in order; in other words lawmakers, including Pelosi, could not say Trump or his tweets were racist.
Kevin McCarthy, the GOP Minority leader made sure Nancy Pelosi knew she wasn’t getting away with her attempt at the political theatre, either.
After Nancy ran out, McCarthy tweeted an update: “BREAKING NEWS —> Speaker Pelosi just broke the rules of the House, and is no longer permitted to speak on the floor of the House for the rest of the day.” Yep, old Nancy was put in a “time out.”
BREAKING NEWS —> Speaker Pelosi just broke the rules of the House, and is no longer permitted to speak on the floor of the House for the rest of the day.
— Kevin McCarthy (@GOPLeader) July 16, 2019
Then, since the Democrats had abandoned the floor as hell broke loose, McCarthy as the top GOP leader took to the floor to read a statement. “Democrats have turned the House of Representatives into a weapon of political theater. They aren’t interested in legislation. They’re only here for retribution,” he tweeted.
Democrats have turned the House of Representatives into a weapon of political theater. They aren’t interested in legislation. They’re only here for retribution. https://t.co/ul3IWPrUp8
— Kevin McCarthy (@GOPLeader) July 16, 2019
In the end, the Democrats, who are in majority, decided to forget the rules and forget that their own leader Steny Hoyer told them they were wrong and out of order.
Instead, after Pelosi and her cohorts stormed off and while she was in a “time out,” they re-grouped came back in and held a meaningless vote.
“Democrats, in a party-line vote, ensured that Pelosi’s words would not be taken down and that she would not, as required, lose her speaking privileges for the day because she left the chamber during the debate on her violation,” Breitbart reported.
We shouldn’t be too shocked. Even though the official manual on House rules and decorum says you cannot call the president a “racist” or a “bigot,” Pelosi and the “squad” were on a mission from hell to bring rage and disorder to Capitol Hill. Like all fraudsters, no rules apply to them and nothing can get in their way to trash President Trump.
We sure hope they got some satisfaction from their big day of stirring up trouble. Americans don’t like this type of grandstanding. And every time they pull pranks like this it turns more Americans off and means Trump gets that much closer to winning re-election in a landslide.
