The Bulwark

The Bulwark

Home
Shows
Newsletters
Special Projects
Events
Founders
Store
Archive
About

Share this post

The Bulwark
The Bulwark
Nancy Pelosi Calls BS
User's avatar
Discover more from The Bulwark
The Bulwark is home to Sarah Longwell, Tim Miller, Bill Kristol, JVL, Sam Stein, and more. We are the largest pro-democracy bundle on Substack for news and analysis on politics and culture—supported by a community built on good-faith.
Over 835,000 subscribers
Already have an account? Sign in
Morning Shots

Nancy Pelosi Calls BS

The pundit class clutches its pearls

Charlie Sykes's avatar
Charlie Sykes
Jul 22, 2021
70

Share this post

The Bulwark
The Bulwark
Nancy Pelosi Calls BS
Share
(Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Washington is shocked because Nancy Pelosi decided yesterday that making a farce of an attempted insurrection was not normal.

Like much of the numbed political establishment, Kevin McCarthy had assumed that Pelosi would simply go along with his decision to try to beclown the January 6 committee. Three of his five appointees had voted to overturn electoral votes from states won by Joe Biden.

That, in itself ought to have been disqualifying, but the appointment of Jim Jordan and Jim Banks was starkly unsubtle. Jordan is a one-man clown car, whose only role on the committee would have been to throw merde into the gears and provide Fox News with soundbites.

But it was actually worse than that.

Back in December, Jordan had fully embraced Trump’s Big Lie, saying that Trump should refuse to concede the election. There was, he told CNN, ā€œNo way, no way, no wayā€ that Trump should concede. ā€œWe should still try to figure out exactly what took place here. And as I said, that includes, I think, debates on the House floor — potentially on Jan. 6.ā€

As the New York Times reports: ā€œLater that month, he participated in a meeting at the White House, where Republican lawmakers discussed plans with Mr. Trump’s team to use the joint session of Congress on Jan. 6 to challenge the election outcome.ā€

In other words, McCarthy — who is himself a potential material witness — named another material witness (and potential co-conspirator) to the panel investigating the attack on the Capitol.

As for Banks, our colleague Tim Miller wrote:

He is an election truther who polled his constituents on whether or not he should cancel the votes of citizens from other states. . . . Banks’s communications director is Buckley Carlson, son of Tucker, ensuring that the White Power Hour will have a direct line to leaks from the committee.

From the beginning, Banks made it clear that he intended to derail the committee’s work. He accused Democrats of creating it to ā€œmalign conservatives.ā€

ā€œI will not allow this committee to be turned into a forum for condemning millions of Americans because of their political beliefs,ā€ he declared.

Banks also pledged an aggressive campaign of distraction and whataboutism. ā€œIf Democrats were serious about investigating political violence,ā€ Banks declared, ā€œthis committee would be studying not only the January 6 riot at the Capitol but also the hundreds of violent political riots last summer when many more innocent Americans and law-enforcement officers were attacked.ā€

Under the Old Rules, Pelosi was expected to go along with all of this.

Conventional wisdom assumed Pelosi would accept the New Normal in which the minority party was openly declaring its intention to memory-hole and retcon an attack on Congress itself. The smart set figured she would go along with the GOP’s decision to turn the probe into a clickbaity shitshow.

On Wednesday, Pelosi decided to hell with that.

ā€œWith respect for the integrity of the investigation, with an insistence on the truth and with concern about statements made and actions taken by these Members, I must reject the recommendations of Representatives Banks and Jordan to the Select Committee,ā€ Pelosi said in her statement.

ā€œThe unprecedented nature of January 6th,ā€ she said, ā€œdemands this unprecedented decision.ā€

In other words:

She drew a red line because an act of sedition requires the drawing of red lines.

The result was a cascade of faux outrage.

McCarthy sulked and DC’s pundit class collectively clutched its pearls. ā€œNancy Pelosi just doomed the already tiny chances of the 1/6 committee actually mattering,ā€ opined Chris Cillizza. ā€œShould have left well enough alone,ā€ former Ohio Governor John Kasich insisted on CNN. Others insisted that it was a gift to McCarthy,

Twitter avatar for @rachaelmbade
Rachael Bade @rachaelmbade
Pelosi's move to reject GOP picks for the 1/6 panel is going to be a gift to Kevin McCarthy in the long run. He wanted this panel to look partisan and political. Now it's definitely going to look partisan and political.
4:44 PM āˆ™ Jul 21, 2021
1,170Likes262Retweets

But this requires us to accept the idea that it is perfectly normal to name members who, as Tim Miller puts it, ā€œliterally supported a MAGA coupā€ as a precondition of ā€œbipartisanship.ā€

Twitter avatar for @Timodc
Tim Miller @Timodc
ā€œThere need to be people on the 1/6 committee who literally supported a MAGA coup or else it’s not bipartisanā€ has got to be the stupidest beltway brain bleed take in a while.
8:19 PM āˆ™ Jul 21, 2021
20,718Likes3,431Retweets

Of course, the committee is already bipartisan, both literally and seriously. (Reminder: the GOP killed an actual independent, non-partisan commission.)

Not at all surprisingly, it was left to Liz Cheney to provide the reality check about Pelosi’s decision. ā€œThis investigation must go forward,ā€ she said. ā€œThe idea that anybody would be playing politics with an attack on the United States Capitol is despicable and is disgraceful.ā€

Twitter avatar for @AccountableGOP
The Republican Accountability Project @AccountableGOP
Facts.
Image
10:26 PM āˆ™ Jul 21, 2021
2,902Likes704Retweets

Cheney noted that Pelosi had rejected two appointees.

One who may be a material witness to events that led to that day . . . the other who disqualified himself by his comments over the last 24 hours demonstrating he's not taking this seriously

And then she trained her fire on McCarthy:

The rhetoric we have heard from the minority leader is disingenuous . . . at every opportunity, the minority leader has attempted to prevent the American people from understanding what happened.

I think that any person who would be third in line to the presidency must demonstrate a commitment to the Constitution and a commitment to the rule of law and Minority Leader McCarthy has not done that.

Exit take: Pelosi and Cheney reminded us yesterday that we don’t have to eat the shit sandwiches — or pretend that there is anything normal about any of this.


In related news:

Twitter avatar for @SykesCharlie
Charlie Sykes @SykesCharlie
Great idea …. (Whispers: hire Denver Riggleman) https://t.co/A7rBS3q0nG
Twitter avatar for @MZanona
Melanie Zanona @MZanona
More NEWS: Liz Cheney is pushing to have a Republican hired as an outside adviser or staffer for the panel. That decision's up to Pelosi & staffing selections still being made. But could take on renewed importance after McCarthy/GOP walked from the probe. https://t.co/LWOoNMFo9O
12:33 AM āˆ™ Jul 22, 2021
488Likes85Retweets

BTW: I’d like to think I called the shot here, but I didn’t expect that Pelosi would actually pull the trigger.

Twitter avatar for @thereidout
The ReidOut @thereidout
#ICYMI-Before @SpeakerPelosi barred Rep. Jim Jordan from the Jan. 6 committee, Charlie Sykes said: ā€œI think that voting to overturn the election should be disqualifying.ā€ #reiders
trib.alSykes on Jim Jordan: He serves no role on Jan. 6 committee but to feed red meat to baseRep. Jim Jordan being appointed to the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection committee probe by Kevin McCarthy is critiqued by Joy Reid and her guests in this special one year anniversary edition of The ReidOut on MSNBC.
7:44 PM āˆ™ Jul 21, 2021
631Likes115Retweets

Meanwhile…

Twitter avatar for @allahpundit
Allahpundit @allahpundit
evil
Twitter avatar for @JasonSCampbell
Jason Campbell @JasonSCampbell
Charlie Kirk speculates that between 123,000 and 1.2 million people could've died after getting the COVID-19 vaccine: "I'm not saying that's true, I'm saying that according to how we calculate VAERS...this could be true" https://t.co/A2CxWVi9UI
6:34 PM āˆ™ Jul 21, 2021
1,477Likes148Retweets

The Illinois GOP:


Quick Hits

1. Biden Caves, Gives Putin Another Pipeline to Europe

David J. Kramer and Benjamin Parker in today’s Bulwark:

The Biden administration announced on Wednesday that it has dropped its opposition to the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline between Russia and Germany as part of a deal with Berlin. The change in policy is indefensible—on its substance, the process behind it, the politics surrounding it, and the effects it will have on European and American security.


2. The Odd Political Fight Over Medicaid Expansion in the Last 12 Holdout States

In this morning’s Bulwark, Dan McGraw writes that the parties are jockeying for position on how to add voters to Medicaid rolls—and get credit for doing so.

The deal, which is still on the table, is this. The expansion would cost about $16.4 billion for those twelve states over two years, with the federal government picking up 90 to 95 percent of the cost, roughly $15 billion. This would mean that in Florida, for example, about 800,000 uninsured citizens would be covered, with the federal government paying about $1.5 billion each year and the state paying about $150 million annually.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’s response?

ā€œThe governor remains opposed to the expansion of Medicaid in Florida,ā€ a DeSantis spokesman said in March.

Since then, Florida has, in fact, asked for more money for Medicaid. But DeSantis seems more interested in hiding the source of the money than obtaining it: Last week, Florida asked the feds for $1.1 billion for Medicaid to be taken from the American Rescue Plan funds. It’s pure politics, a suggestion that the profligate opposition is being wasteful.


Cheap Shots

Twitter avatar for @SarahLongwell25
Sarah Longwell @SarahLongwell25
I used to think James Lankford was a serious person. My bad. https://t.co/oJB1POgvv8
Twitter avatar for @SenatorLankford
Sen. James Lankford @SenatorLankford
We should immediately block the sale of all #Benandjerrys in the state and in any state-operated facility to align with our law.
2:43 AM āˆ™ Jul 22, 2021
319Likes25Retweets
70

Share this post

The Bulwark
The Bulwark
Nancy Pelosi Calls BS
Share
The American Age Is Over
Emergency Triad: The United States commits imperial suicide.
Apr 3 ā€¢ 
Jonathan V. Last
5,379

Share this post

The Bulwark
The Bulwark
The American Age Is Over
1,482
How to Think (and Act) Like a Dissident Movement
AOC, solidarity, and people power.
Mar 24 ā€¢ 
Jonathan V. Last
4,138

Share this post

The Bulwark
The Bulwark
How to Think (and Act) Like a Dissident Movement
1,164
Chaos, Cowards, and Alligator Alcatraz
The gang goes live on this edition of The Next Level.
Jul 2 ā€¢ 
Tim Miller
, 
Jonathan V. Last
, and 
Sarah Longwell
2,486

Share this post

The Bulwark
The Bulwark
Chaos, Cowards, and Alligator Alcatraz
698
1:06:42

Ready for more?

Ā© 2025 Bulwark Media
Privacy āˆ™ Terms āˆ™ Collection notice
Start writingGet the app
Substack is the home for great culture

Share