Nancy Pelosi becoming speaker again proves she should ‘not be counted out’: Mollie Hemingway

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Pelosi retakes House gavel despite Democrat defections

The return of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif, is definitive proof that she shouldn’t be underestimated, argued The Federalist senior editor Mollie Hemingway during the "Special Report" All-Star panel Thursday.

With 220 votes in support from the 116th Congress, Pelosi was chosen to hold the gavel once again after she lost majority leadership back in 2011.

Hemingway, along with Washington Post opinion writer Charles Lane and Washington Examiner commentary writer Tom Rogan, weighed in on the new dynamic between the Legislative Branch and the Executive Branch.

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After noting the stark policy contrast between establishment Democrats like Pelosi and young progressives like Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., Hemingway said that the new speaker is in a “difficult position,” but that no one should “count her out.”

“Just the fact that she won this race again even though you had so many people campaigning and promising that they wouldn’t vote for her and turning around and doing just that- voting for her, shows that she should not be counted out,” Hemingway told the panel. “But even more so than her previous time as speaker, she is wrangling a very desperate coalition of people. And a lot of people came and voted for Democrats because they were suburban people who didn’t want to vote for Trump, are they going to be on board with a really aggressive, more socialistic agenda that is where the excitement is of the Democratic base is? And how does Nancy Pelosi keep that in check?”

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Charles Lane noted the “olive branch” President Donald Trump gave in his congratulatory message to Speaker Pelosi, calling it a “strategy” by the White House to show that it’s the president who “wants to compromise” and not the Democrats amid the partial government shutdown.

Meanwhile, Tom Rogan pointed out that Trump has a “manifest interest” in getting the border wall funding, which explains the “theatrical element” including the "Game of Thrones" meme.