Anyone missing their Sunday sermon this morning in Austin, Texas, completely heard it in full from the 52nd former Speaker of the House, who made a pitstop here at SXSW for The Atlantic session, “The Future of Global Democracy.”
Nancy Pelosi canvassed several topics impacting the nation’s democracy and welfare, including the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank in her San Francisco backyard, Fox News’ Tucker Carlson, Republicans who prop political violence — and that was just in the first 20 minutes of her hour-long session.
When it comes to the Silicon Valley Bank, Pelosi’s hope after meeting with the FDIC last night is that a rival bank will arise and buy out the damaged financial institution before the market opens Monday, so that it doesn’t fall on the taxpayer’s money.
“I don’t think there’s an appetite in the country for bailing out a bank. But we have to honor the depositers,” said Pelosi at the LINE Hotel ballroom today.
“Many of the small businesses have accounts at that bank, they have money there, so that they can pay the payroll,” explained Pelosi, “So, if this bank fails, we’re concerned about the payroll of the workers in these companies.”
“If they can’t pay the payroll or utility bill, this all literally goes down the drain. There are lots of reasons we should be selectively approaching this. We do not want contagion,” said Pelosi, meaning a domino effect where other banks in the U.S. start going under.
“We don’t want this to be systemic, because that would be harmful to the economy and the rest,” said the House Rep from California’s 11th congressional district.
Hitting close to Hollywood’s home, Roku disclosed Friday that they had close to half billion of its $1.9 billion cash and equivalents in the Silicon Valley Bank.
“The company’s deposits with SVB are largely uninsured. At this time, the company does not know to what extent the company will be able to recover its cash on deposit at SVB,” Roku said in an SEC filing.
Conversation turned to the January 6 insurrection and Fox News’ Tucker Carlson recently exclaiming in newly released footage of the anarchistic protest that the people who stormed the Capitol weren’t insurrectionists, rather sightseers.
“Here’s the thing. We had a president of the United State who incited an insurrection,” she said about Donald Trump, “That day was as horrible as it was imagined; the assault on this temple of democracy, they made an assault on our constitution…”
“They refused to send the National Guard,” she continued, “I was a major target, but I had security that got me out of there. I was concerned about my members, the press, the staff who were traumatized, the maintenance people who maintained the Capitol as these anarchists were making poo-poo on the floor.”
“So something must be wrong with Tucker Carlson,” she said. Without naming Fox News by name, Pelosi added, “There’s money that runs a lot of that, to get more viewers…they were more enthusiastically misled by what he has said.” The Atlantic discussion today didn’t plunge into Dominion Voting System’s $1.6 billion suit against Fox News.
Pelosi wanted to make it clear that she’s not anti-Republican. It’s just what the Elephant party has become in her opinion. “You’re a grand old party that has done great things. Instead, you turned into a cult, into a thug.”
“There’s a sentiment in our country that is anarchist,” she said. “We want to be respectful of everyone’s views and want to find common ground.”
Pelosi is baffled by why the right wing party isn’t more responsible. But again, “The radical right wing destruction is from someone who inflames it,” meaning Trump.
In regards to the tide turning against women’s right to choose, and other issues, it boils down to the nation electing those “who honor their oath of office.”
“The important way to do that is in elections…we just need to win. People who believe in their oath of office need to win, no matter what party they belong to,” said Pelosi.
Pelosi added about the surge in political violence in the country that “many people who advocate for all of this are in the Congress of the United States.” She mentioned that her husband, Paul Pelosi, who was attacked by an intruder with a hammer in their Pacific Heights, San Francisco home, was finally able to make the trip to Austin with her today.
“I was the target and he paid the price,” she said today.
“What you see on the other side…it’s like a limbo contest they’re having with themselves. How low can they go in feeding the flame.”
Pelosi mentioned how the right wing uses cultural issues like LGBTQ, and a woman’s right to choose: “No politician should make any declaration of what a person should do in their private life in my view,” the Catholic politician said, “My archbishop doesn’t think that, but that’s his problem.”
Asked whether she’s certain if Trump will be our next President, Pelosi answered, “No. But we impeached him twice, and he’s going to lose twice.”
