Americans Deserve Answers from Speaker Pelosi, Not President Trump

President Trump officially started off his campaign with a triumphant return to the stage on Saturday night in Tulsa, Oklahoma. During the nearly two-hour long speech, President Trump made a comment that was obviously made in gest and intended as a joke. Specifically, while discussing the coronavirus, Trump indicated that he had asked his aides to slow the testing down in order to keep the number of positive results under control. While Trump was obviously kidding, Nancy Pelosi immediately attacked the president and demanded “answers” on behalf of the American people. Fortunately, Pelosi does not speak for the American people. Rather, she was elected to serve them and has miserably failed in that regard. With that said, Pelosi is right in one respect: Americans deserve answers. However, the answers do not relate to Trump’s recent remarks, but Pelosi’s conduct while in office.

According to a recent statement issued by Pelosi:

“Testing, tracing, treatment and social distancing are the only tools we have to stop the spread of the coronavirus, but President Trump orders his Administration to slow down the testing that saves lives.

“The President’s efforts to slow down desperately needed testing to hide the true extent of the virus mean more Americans will lose their lives.

“This Tuesday, members of the Trump Administration’s coronavirus task force will testify before the Energy & Commerce committee.  The American people are owed answers about why President Trump wants less testing when experts say much more is needed.

“The President is ethically unfit and intellectually unprepared to lead.  Senator McConnell must stop obstructing The Heroes Act and the life-saving testing resources it provides.”

Fortunately, many people do not take Pelosi seriously, and rightfully so. After all, while Pelosi blames Trump for sacrificing American lives, it was Pelosi who took a tour through San Francisco’s Chinatown in February, where she invited others to join her and to stand together. It was also Pelosi who objected to Trump’s expanded travel ban that was meant to curb the spread of the coronavirus and to protect American lives. Finally, and as the most glaring example of her utter hypocrisy, it was Pelosi who joined some of the George Floyd protestors and who indicated that there was some good social distancing among some of the crowds and on television. In reality, many of the “protestors,” who despicably mobbed businesses and vandalized various monuments, did so without wearing masks and/or practicing proper social distancing.

In calling on Trump to “answer” for his “comment,” Pelosi wants Americans to believe that she is on their side. In reality, Pelosi’s claims are disingenuous and her apparent call for “answers” is nothing more than a ruse to deflect the American public’s attention away from her failures and questionable conduct and/or decisions. Pelosi is right that the American public deserves answers. However, those answers should come from her, and the questions should relate to some of her decisions and/or conduct as Speaker of the House. For example, the American public deserves answers to the following questions, to wit:

• Why did Pelosi pursue impeachment of a duly elected president without any evidence of an impeachable offense?

• Why did Pelosi refuse to hold a House vote on the impeachment inquiry and to allow transparency during the impeachment inquiry phase by permitting Republicans to fully participate in the investigation?

• Why did Pelosi intentionally refrain from sending the Articles of Impeachment to the Senate after the House voted to impeach the president?

• Why did Pelosi give free “advice” to immigrants who were in the country illegally and advise them how to avoid arrest and deportation by ICE agents?

• Why did Pelosi (and House Democrats) fail to take corrective action when members of her/their own party made comments that were blatantly “racist,” or “anti-Semitic,” yet, instead, decided to draft a resolution condemning the president?

• Why did Nancy Pelosi condemn President Trump’s handling of the coronavirus when she failed to demand a stop to the recent protests where people were clearly not practicing social distancing and/or wearing masks?

• Why did Nancy Pelosi fail to demand a full-fledge investigation into Joe Biden after allegations of sexual assault surfaced against him?

• Why did Nancy Pelosi tear up President Trump’s State of Union speech when doing so showed a complete disregard and a lack of respect towards the office of the presidency?

The answers to these questions are important, yet they remain a mystery shrouded in secrecy. Americans know that President Trump takes the coronavirus very seriously and that he would never intentionally jeopardize American lives. Actions speak louder than words when it comes to the virus and the differences between Trump and Pelosi could not be clearer. President Trump took decisive action with China (travel ban), closed the border with Canada and imposed restrictions on Mexico, issued executive order(s) when necessary, and took decisive actions within the United stated to help curb the virus. Among her “achievements,” Pelosi marched with the “protestors” and as Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) pointed out, delayed a stimulus bill in the Senate for days because she wanted same-day voting and carbon neutrality for the airlines.

Americans want answers. However, they do not need to hear from President Trump. Rather, it is Pelosi that must explain herself.

Mr. Hakim is a political writer and commentator and an attorney.  His articles have been published in The Washington Examiner, The Daily Caller, The Federalist, The Algemeiner, The Western Journal, American Thinker and other online publications.