This summer’s events – Biden bowing out, Harris running and Walz as VP pick – show Pelosi’s considerable influence

When you’ve lost Nancy Pelosi, you might as well clear out your desk.

Amid all the chaos and whiplash in US politics over the past few weeks, one law remained constant: Pelosi is uniquely influential and has the power to make or break careers – even those of American presidents.

The former House speaker did more than anyone else to re-engineer the race for the White House, breathing new life into her Democratic party and sending Donald Trump’s Republicans into a tailspin.

Pelosi, 84, publicly encouraged 81-year-old Joe Biden to make a decision about his re-election campaign when he had already insisted he had no plans to step aside. Once he did drop out and endorse Kamala Harris, Pelosi scored another victory when former congressman Tim Walz was named as running mate.

  • MagicShel@programming.dev
    35·
    4 months ago

    Ultimate power sounds kinda nefarious. Seems to me like she’s doing a hell of a job, currently. I don’t have any particular love or hate of her, but her job has got to be like herding cats, and she clearly does it will.

    • Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world
      20·
      4 months ago

      Ultimate power sounds kinda nefarious

      Deservedly so. She didn’t get where she is by NOT currying favor with and doing the bidding of the ultra-rich and their corporations.

      her job has got to be like herding cats, and she clearly does it will.

      Nah, her job is to receive and carry out the wishes of the owner donors. That’s why she originally supported Biden staying in: the wealthy patrons were still on his side. It was only when THEY started pulling their support that she used her power to oust him.

      • BradleyUffner@lemmy.worldEnglish
        8·
        4 months ago

        If her job is to carry out someone else’s wishes, then she doesn’t really have “ultimate power”. It’s just like, penultimate power, best case.

        • Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world
          4·
          4 months ago

          Dammit, that’s actually a good point lol. She’s mostly a vessel through which even richer, even more powerful, and even more corrupt people exert their will on the public.

          She’s damn effective and brutal about it, though, making her chief amongst corrupt middle managers.

        • Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world
          4·
          4 months ago

          They do. As do Republican, third party, and politically neutral elites.

          In a system specifically designed to reward greed, ruthlessness, and authoritarian tendencies, you don’t get to be one of the elites without being an awful person.

            • Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world
              3·
              4 months ago

              Only if your greed and lust for power are stronger than your higher principles.

              You can fight the system, even from the inside, without selling out, but they won’t let you pull the levers behind the scenes unless you’re much more rich and/or powerful than it’s possible to become without selling out.

              • skulblaka@sh.itjust.works
                2·
                4 months ago

                For an easy and obvious example, see Bernie Sanders. He’s stood behind his principles from the day he was born and never sold out to anyone. He’s a beloved figure across the whole country and a huge percentage of Americans supported his run for president.

                He has next to zero power, outside of using his established position to shame other politicians. If you’re immune to shame, he can do nothing.

        • Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world
          5·
          4 months ago

          No. Only the most corrupt politics, of which Pelosi is a chief proponent.

          Corruption is unacceptable, especially on the scale of the likes of Pelosi and most if not all Republicans.

          Politics are NOT as corrupt in every system and even if it was, that would be something to fight to change, not “make peace with” like a good little slave.

          • MagicShel@programming.dev
            2·
            4 months ago

            What are you going to do about it? Money and power dominate every system. Monarchy. Feudalism. Communism. Democracy. Even anarchy is rolled by the person with the biggest guns.

            • Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world
              1·
              4 months ago

              Even anarchy is rolled by the person with the biggest guns.

              Anarcho-capitalism? Sure. Left anarchism? Nope, only according to the deliberately misleading establishment narrative 🙄

              • MagicShel@programming.dev
                2·
                4 months ago

                There is no organization of people, from a marriage to a nation, that can’t be unbalanced. Someone always has influence (wealth, power, knowledge) that can be used corruptly or violently to take from another.

                • Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world
                  1·
                  4 months ago

                  Yeah yeah, the world is unfair and we’re all powerless to influence anyone so we should just give up now 🙄

                  Isn’t it exhausting to go through life with such an utterly defeatist attitude?

  • ChronosTriggerWarning@lemmy.world
    29·
    4 months ago

    Pelosi is a fossilized old barnacle that need to be scraped from the hull. If you’re old enough to remember when steam was the number one source of power, it’s time to step aside and let some younger blood take the reins.

    IMHO.

  • mctoasterson@reddthat.com
    6·
    4 months ago

    Word on the street is she and Obama confronted Joe and told him point blank he would be stepping aside from the nomination or Kamala would 25th Amendment him with their support. That was the stick. The carrot was they’ll give him a giant fellatio tribute at the DNC and find some way to get funding for a library for his “legacy”.

    This does make one wonder though, why is he even still the acting president?

  • hesusingthespiritbomb@lemmy.world
    6·
    4 months ago

    I actually have more respect for Pelosi after this.

    She willingly stepped down in 2022. Her first reaction was to refuse to comment, and not exert pressure. She seemed to genuinely want either Joe Biden to come to the conclusion that he can’t run on his own and/or Hakeem Jefferies to lead the charge to have him step down.

    It was only after Jefferies proved himself pretty much useless that she inserted herself back into the primary role. She proceeded to prove that, despite everything ,she’s incredibly capable in a way that no other democrat can match.

    Regardless of how the election turns out, I think we can all agree that Biden was a massive liability for Democrats. While I have personal issues in regards to the Harris/Walz ticket, most Americans seem infinitely more amicable to it than Biden/Harris. None of that would have been possible without Pelosi.