Nancy Pelosi Brutally Explains Why She Wanted Biden to Drop Out

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi wanted President Joe Biden to drop out because she was startled by his poor debate performance and, apparently, not that impressed by his political machinations.

In an interview with David Remnick for The New Yorker published Thursday, Pelosi discussed the debate, her appearance on Morning Joe, and her influence over Biden’s decision to withdraw from the presidential race.

To hear Pelosi tell it, she was always one step ahead of Biden and his campaign.

Despite what Pelosi described as a pervasive confidence among her people that Biden would outperform Donald Trump in the debate, she claimed to have advised Biden against participating. “I said, [Trump’s] doggy doo-doo. You’re going to get doggy doo-doo on your shoe. It’s not a good thing,” Pelosi said.

Like many Americans, Pelosi was “startled” and “stunned” by Biden’s poor performance in June’s presidential debate.

Pelosi appeared on Morning Joe in July, where she signaled that she was no longer aligned with the messaging of the Biden campaign. While the campaign continuously asserted the incumbent’s unwavering intention to seek reelection, Pelosi spoke with a less definitive tone.

“It’s up to the president to decide if he’s going to run,” Pelosi said, an implicit rejection of the decision stated by the campaign. “I want him to do whatever he decides to do, and that’s the way it is.”

Although Pelosi did not cop to her status as a highly influential political operator, Remnick wrote that Pelosi’s appearance on Morning Joe signaled a “permission structure” to others to call on Biden to end his campaign.

It was previously reported that Pelosi, along with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, made direct appeals to Biden urging him to drop out.

“I really wanted him to make a decision for a better campaign, because they were not facing the fact of what was happening.… We couldn’t see it go down the drain because Trump was going to be president and then he was going to take the House. Imagine! Imagine how that would be! Well, we don’t have to imagine. We saw,” Pelosi said.

“I’ve never been that impressed with his political operation,” she admitted of Biden. “They won the White House. Bravo. But my concern was: This ain’t happening, and we have to make a decision for this to happen. The president has to make the decision for that to happen.”

Unprompted, Pelosi denied rumors that she was in any way the mastermind behind Biden’s decision. “People were calling. I never called one person. I kept true to my word. Any conversation I had, it was just going to be with him. I never made one call. They said I was burning up the lines; I was talking to Chuck [Schumer]. I didn’t talk to Chuck at all,” she said.

“I never called one person, but people were calling me saying that there was a challenge there. So there had to be a change in the leadership of the campaign, or what would come next?”

Her goal, she added, was simple: “That Donald Trump would never set foot in the White House again.”