Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi openly criticised Donald Trump and the people around him, saying they continue to encourage behaviour that she believes is deeply troubling.
Pelosi said she did not watch Trump’s recent prime-time speech when it aired. According to her, the reason was simple: she feels completely exhausted by him. Speaking in a new interview with Jonathan Karl on ABC News, she said she had reached a point where she no longer wanted to listen to him directly. Although she skipped the live speech, she later saw clips and coverage of it in the news. What she saw, she said, convinced her that the speech showed serious problems with Trump’s mental fitness.
She also raised concern about another recent incident, pointing to Trump’s verbal attack on filmmaker Rob Reiner after Reiner and his wife, Michele Reiner, were found stabbed to death in their home earlier this month. Pelosi said Trump’s reaction crossed a line and showed a lack of basic judgment and restraint. In her view, the situation suggested that something is clearly wrong, not only with Trump himself, but also with the people closest to him. She questioned why those around him do not step in to stop what she described as his constant and embarrassing outbursts.
Pelosi and Trump famously clashed during his previous time in office. Their tense relationship produced several memorable public moments. One of the most well-known was when Pelosi was photographed at the White House wagging her finger at Trump during a heated exchange. That image quickly went viral, and Pelosi said people still ask her to sign copies of that photo even today. Another major moment came during a State of the Union address, when Pelosi was seen tearing up Trump’s speech while standing behind him.
Trump reacted angrily at the time, falsely claiming that her action was illegal. Pelosi dismissed that accusation and explained in the interview that she tore up the speech because, in her words, it was nothing more than a “manifesto of lies.” She said she felt it did not deserve respect because it was packed with falsehoods and misleading claims.
Now 85 years old, Pelosi has confirmed that she will not seek re-election. She plans to retire at the end of her current term, bringing to a close a political career that has spanned more than 40 years in Congress.
