The former speaker of the House mentioned Silicon Valley Bank, January 6 revisionist historical past, the approaching election, and extra in a South by Southwest interview targeted on cash and greed.
House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi’s message on the annual South by Southwest competition may very well be summarized in three phrases: Follow the cash.
Pelosi uttered that particular phrase—and related variations of it—a number of occasions throughout her interview with Evan Smith, a contributing author at The Atlantic, as a part of the journal’s Future of Democracy summit this morning in Austin, Texas.
Pelosi, who represents California’s eleventh congressional district, started by discussing the current collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and the nervousness sweeping via not solely her residence district however the tech and monetary industries as a complete. “I don’t think there’s any appetite in this country for bailing out a bank,” she stated. “What we would hope to see by tomorrow morning is for some other bank to buy the bank.” She stated there have been a number of potential consumers, however she couldn’t reveal their names. Pelosi identified that former President Donald Trump had authorized the discount of sure Dodd-Frank protections that had been instituted following the 2008 monetary crash: “If they were still in place and the bank had to honor them, this might have been avoided,” she supplied. Rather than repeating our current historical past and utilizing taxpayer cash to rescue the failed establishment, Pelosi stated the main target must be on defending depositors and small companies liable to closing or not making payroll. “We do not want contagion,” she stated.
Pelosi pointed to cash—the reckless use and exploitation of it—as the basis of just about each downside dealing with America and the world as we speak. Whether the potential fallout of a failed financial institution like SVB or the rise of autocracy all over the world, all of it comes all the way down to cash, cash, cash, and little else. “Money buying Russian oil is paying for the assault on democracy in Ukraine,” Pelosi stated. She accused China of “buying” votes from smaller international locations on the United Nations, and stated the U.S. should be a part of with the European Union “in using the leverage of this big market to have the playing field be more even.”
Pelosi refused to say Trump’s identify even as soon as throughout her one-hour session, referring to the forty fifth president as a substitute by “What’s his name” beneath her breath. Still, she condemned the extremism and anarchy that had overtaken American politics since Trump started his rise almost eight years in the past. Her husband, Paul Pelosi, who was struck within the head with a hammer by a house invader final fall, joined her on as we speak’s journey to Texas, which was uncommon, on condition that he’s nonetheless recovering from the assault. “I was the target,” she stated. “He paid the price.”
She spoke of the January 6 rebel with disappointment and disgust—anarchists “making poo-poo on the floor of the Capitol”—and acknowledged the rioters’ purpose to place a bullet in her head that day. Her successor, Speaker Kevin McCarthy, not too long ago gave a trove of January 6 materials to Fox News within the identify of governmental transparency. Fox’s largest star, Tucker Carlson, downplayed the severity of the Capitol storming in a broadcast final week. “Something must be wrong with Tucker Carlson,” Pelosi stated. “There’s money that runs a lot of it.”
Taking a quick conciliatory be aware, she stated she hoped “for the best” for McCarthy as he continues his first yr as House speaker. “We need to listen, and I hope that Kevin will listen to other than just the very radical, right-wing fringe of his party,” she stated, apparently gesturing at Trump and different election deniers. When requested in regards to the prospect of Trump once more changing into the GOP nominee in 2024, she was prepared with a canned line: “If he is, we impeached him twice, and he’s gonna lose twice.” (Left unsaid was that neither impeachment resulted in Trump’s removing from workplace.)
As for President Joe Biden, Pelosi referred to as him a “magnificent leader” and stated that she “certainly hopes” he’ll run once more. (She joked that he’s youthful than she is.) Nevertheless, Pelosi appeared barely agitated that Biden had but to formally declare his candidacy, leaving different potential candidates within the Democratic social gathering with few choices. “I think it would be efficient for us to have a president seek reelection, and we should be moving on with it when we can. Whatever decision he makes, we’d like to know.”