House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) got testy during a Thursday morning press conference after a CNN reporter questioned the top Democrat’s message of “dignity” when she decided to rip up a physical copy of President Donald Trump’s State of the Union speech on Tuesday night. According to Pelosi, not only were her actions “dignified” and “appropriate,” they were “courteous,” considering what she was dealing with from the president.
CNN’s Manu Raju questioned Pelosi if the now-infamous speech-tearing stepped on her messages about being “dignified” and taking the “high ground.”
“Did you step on that message?” Raju bluntly asked.
“No, I did not. No, I did not. I tore up a manifesto of mistruths,” contended Pelosi.
“It was necessary to get the attention of the American people, to say this is not true,” she continued.
“And I don’t need any lessons from anybody, especially the president of the United States, about dignity. Dignity,” a visibly irritated Pelosi scoffed.
“Is it okay to start saying ‘four more years’ in the House of Representatives?” she asked. “It’s just unheard of.”
“It was completely, entirely appropriate,” the speaker concluded. “And considering the other exuberances within me, the courteous thing to do.”
WATCH:
.@SpeakerPelosi: "I tore up a manifesto of mistruths…It was necessary to get the attention of the American people, to say this is not true…And I don't need any lessons from anybody, especially the president of the United States, about dignity." pic.twitter.com/N4PLK1wGyG
— CSPAN (@cspan) February 6, 2020
In a statement reported by The Washington Post on Wednesday, Pelosi echoed the same “manifesto of mistruths” line.
“The manifesto of mistruths presented in page after page of the address tonight should be a call to action for everyone who expects truth from the president and policies worthy of his office and the American people,” the statement said.
In addition to ripping up Trump’s speech, the speaker seemingly refused to announce the president as he has traditionally been announced.
As noted by The Daily Wire, decades of past SOTU addresses show that is protocol for the House Speaker to announce the president by noting that it is their “high privilege and distinct honor” to do so:
“Members of Congress, I have the high privilege and distinct honor of presenting to you the President of the United States.”
In fact, as recently as 2015, during then-President Barack Obama’s SOTU address, then-House Speaker John Boehner announced Mr. Obama: “Members of Congress, I have the high privilege and the distinct honor to present to you, the president of the United States.”
Pelosi took a different route, and instead merely announced President Trump to Congress: “Members of Congress, the president of the United States.”
The snubbing of President Trump did not end there. Eight House Democrats boycotted the speech, apparently as a protest against Trump’s legitimacy, and at least four other Democrats walked out of the SOTU as Trump was speaking.
Far-left Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), for example, said she had to walk out of the speech when she heard the mere mentioning of the name of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
“I think, you know, even the mention of Brett Kavanaugh for me is a trigger,” the Democrat told MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, according to The Hill.
“Just as a woman in America, the fact that he, you know, rightfully was accused, and having an incredibly strong woman come before the public and the world and tell her story of sexual assault by this person that was appointed to the Supreme Court is just — I couldn’t stand still and not do anything about it, and I needed to walk away from that,” said Tlaib.
WATCH:
Imagine the outrage and meltdown if Nancy Pelosi was a Republican. pic.twitter.com/x0i8OAdwyk
— The Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) February 5, 2020