Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) appeared to defend her role in Joe Biden’s decision to withdraw from the 2024 presidential race, admitting that she has yet to speak with the former president or former First Lady Jill Biden.
Biden made history last July by dropping out of the race after mounting pressure from Democratic lawmakers following his disastrous debate performance against now-President Donald Trump. Pelosi was widely seen as a key figure behind the Democratic effort to push Biden out of the race. Since then, reports suggest tensions between the Bidens and Pelosi have remained strained, Fox News noted.
Earlier this month, MSNBC host Andrea Mitchell questioned Pelosi about Biden’s insistence—expressed even in the final days of his presidency—that he could have defeated Trump had he not been pressured to step aside.
“Well, all I know is that we won a seat in the house. We did not lose any seats,” Pelosi argued. “You know, people were like, ‘Oh, the Democrats lost!’ No, we did not. I think it would have been quite different with President Biden at the top of the ticket.”
Mitchell noted that Jill Biden expressed she was “disappointed” with Pelosi’s actions during an interview with the Washington Post. In late January, Jill told the Post that Pelosi’s actions had “been on my mind a lot lately,” noting, “We were friends for 50 years. It was disappointing.”
Mitchell asked Pelosi, “Is there any way to patch that up? Have you spoken to her?”
“Well, I certainly hope so,” Pelosi replied. “No, I haven’t [spoken to Jill Biden], but the fact is that we’re all on a mission for the American people, for the American people, for America’s working families.”
Pelosi suggested to the news host that politics can resemble maintaining a marriage for the sake of one’s children.
“My whole passion about being in politics is for the children. So what is it that we’re doing for the children?” the Speaker Emerita said. “I think that it would have been important for the children to not have Donald Trump be president of the United States, and that is – I would take every step necessary to make sure that didn’t happen. But it did. And now we have to deal with it.”
Pelosi believes that the Democrats’ prospects will improve as the party prepares for the 2026 midterm elections.
“In about 6 or 7 months, you’re going to see such a change,” she said. “By the time we start our campaigns in this fall for next fall, you’re going to see a very different picture about the Democrats vis-a-vis Donald Trump.”
Given early assessments of Trump’s presidency, however, it is clear that Democrats will have an uphill battle; Trump’s job approval rating climbed to 55%, according to a new poll released over the weekend.
The Napolitan News and RMG Research survey found that 55% of registered voters approve of Trump’s performance, while 43% disapprove. The national poll was conducted among 3,000 registered voters from February 10 to 14, with a margin of error of 1.8%, Just the News reported, citing the data.
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A separate poll released on Thursday showed a lower approval rating for Trump at 48%.
Meanwhile, a significant shift is taking place in how major corporations approach and fund Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs.
Trump accelerated this transition last month by signing an executive order eliminating DEI policies and staff within the federal government and extending the ban to federal contractors, The Center Square reported.
Some private companies had already begun scaling back DEI initiatives before Trump took office. However, following his directive, many have started retreating from their DEI commitments—at least symbolically—even if substantive internal changes remain limited, the outlet noted further.
