NANCY Pelosi mocked Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez by talking to her in a child-like voice and hit out at “The Squad” of progressive women representatives. The House Speaker revelation came to light in a book being published later this month. Pelosi reportedly gave blunt advice to AOC by putting on a child-like voice and said: “You’re not a one-person […]
NANCY Pelosi mocked Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez by talking to her in a child-like voice and hit out at “The Squad” of progressive women representatives.
The House Speaker revelation came to light in a book being published later this month.
Pelosi reportedly gave blunt advice to AOC by putting on a child-like voice and said: “You’re not a one-person show. This is the Congress of the United States.”
Susan Page, USA Today’s Washington bureau chief, held 10 interviews with the House Speaker for the new biography – “Madam Speaker: Nancy Pelosi and the Lessons of Power”.
According a preview of the book in Axios, Page recalled an interview conducted with Pelosi in July 2019.
The interview took place following Pelosi’s dispute with the so-called “Squad” consisting of Democratic Reps Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley and Rashida Tlaib.
Axios reports: “Pelosi unloads on the Squad, at one point adopting a child-like voice when discussing Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.”
Pelosi “offers the Squad this blunt advice: ‘You’re not a one-person show. This is the Congress of the United States,’” according to the report.
Pelosi and the Squad were at odds over a number of issues, including women lawmakers criticising Democrats in public.
The House Speaker’s “anger at the four new progressive congresswomen was palpable,” Page wrote after one of her interviews with the House Speaker.
Democrats have a seven-seat edge in the House, giving the band of relatively young leftists power to influence legislation.
Pelosi also revealed how the “pain” she felt when she realized Donald Trump would win the presidency “was physical; it was actually physical”.
According to an excerpt from the book, the Speaker was left “horrified” after Trump won and “saw him as unfit for the White House”.
“The election of Donald Trump was stunningly scary, and it was justified to be scared,” she told Page during an interview.
“How could they elect such a person – who talked that way about women, who was so crude and… to me, creepy.”
The book also reveals the first phonecall between Pelosi and Trump, in which Trump allegedly tells Pelosi to “speak to his daughter” when asked about the bipartisan Congressional Caucus for Women’s Issues.
Pelosi faced an online backlash after excerpts of the book were published, with some Americans calling for her to quit and “let the people who really care run the show”.
“Retire grandma,” one Twitter user, who said they live in rural America, said.
Another wrote: “Please resign.”
A third said: “Oh screw you Pelosi. Retire and let the people who really care run the show.”
In the biography, Pelosi described the Senate leader as “an enabler of some of the worst stuff”, Axios reports.
“Mitch McConnell is not a force for good in the country,” she reportedly said in an interview with Page.
“He is an enabler of some of the worst stuff, and an instigator of some of it on his own.”
Pelosi also bristles at former President Barack Obama getting sole credit for the deals she got through Congress.
In an excerpt from the book, Page said Pelosi did not want to discuss her personal life – but said she was able to get her to talk about personal things, “although not always intentionally”.
“I’m as private a person as there is, and a shy one. I’ve had to be in this role – but I don’t intend to go into personal, personal aspects,” Pelosi told Page.
Pelosi sat for 10 interviews with Page for “Madam Speaker,” which will be released April 20.
The book will also address the first phone call between Pelosi and Trump when the former president allegedly asked the House Speaker to talk to his daughter about bipartisan Congressional Caucus for Women’s Issues.
