Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) appeared on MSNBC Friday evening to debrief about the $2 trillion bipartisan stimulus bill, which was approved by the House earlier in the day and promptly signed by President Trump, but ended up spending a portion of the interview talking about Congressman Thomas Massie (R-KY), the rogue Republican who signaled he would temporarily stall the House vote by invoking a call for quorum.
“I tried to be respectful of his enthusiasm for his idea, but I did tell him that it wasn’t going to work, that we will have a voice vote, and it wasn’t going to hold us up to much,” Pelosi told Maddow on Friday evening, according to The Washington Examiner.
“We always knew we would pass this bill and we would pass it today, and we would not let any nuisance stand in the way,” continued Pelosi. “That’s really what he was, a dangerous nuisance.”
Amidst the last-minute stunt, Massie received bipartisan blowback from leading political figures, including President Trump, who called him a third-rate grandstander just looking for publicity.
Former Secretary of State John Kerry also unloaded on the GOP Congressman in a Twitter post Friday morning, complete with a crude hashtag: “Breaking news: Congressman Massie has tested positive for being an a**hole. He must be quarantined to prevent the spread of his massive stupidity He’s given new meaning to the term #Masshole.”
Breaking news: Congressman Massie has tested positive for being an asshole. He must be quarantined to prevent the spread of his massive stupidity. He’s given new meaning to the term #Masshole. (Finally, something the president and I can agree on!) https://t.co/N1CNLPsZjc
— John Kerry (@JohnKerry) March 27, 2020
Although President Trump promptly signed the stimulus package, Pelosi told Maddow on Friday that the president’s comments in the oval office during the signing made him a “dangerous president.”
“Later in the day we saw the president sign the bill, and he was a dangerous president,” said Pelosi, who explained that she took issue with Trump remarking that earlier in the month everything was great, but now the nation is facing a strong challenge.
“Twenty days ago we had nearly 500 cases, 17 deaths, we had a threat that he chose to ignore, and now we have about 100,000 cases and over 1,500 deaths, and he’s still in that state where he’s not doing enough,” said Pelosi.
Both Governor Andrew Cuomo (D-NY) and Governor Gavin Newsom (D-CA) have praised the Trump administration’s response to the coronavirus epidemic at various points, with Cuomo remarking that the president has been “ready and willing to help” last week. According to The San Jose Mercury News, Newsom called Trump “terrific” on Friday, and said he appreciated the president’s “nice words.”
As The Daily Wire previously reported, Trump invoked the Defense Production Act on Friday to compel General Motors to begin producing medical ventilators after negotiations with the company stalled.
“Our negotiations with GM regarding its ability to supply ventilators have been productive, but our fight against the virus is too urgent to allow the give-and-take of the contracting process to continue to run its normal course,” said Trump.