With nearly two dozen declared or potential candidates vying for the Democratic Party’s 2020 nomination to challenge President Donald Trump, one thing has become increasingly clear — none of them are particularly inspiring to the masses, and none appear readily capable of easily, or even just barely, defeating Trump come Election Day.
While some Democrats are scouring the horizon for some as-yet unnamed savior to swoop in and save the party come 2020, one rather prominent former mayor believes that potential savior is already right in front of us — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Proven leader with track record of success
In his column for the San Francisco Chronicle, former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown suggested that his hometown’s representative in Congress, Nancy Pelosi, is quite possibly “the one person with the best chance of winning” when matched up against Trump.
Brown ran through a list of qualities possessed by Pelosi that led him to make that determination, and from the perspective of someone on the left faced with rather dismal options at this point, he offered a fairly compelling argument. “She is already the best-known Democrat in the nation. She has a proven legislative record,” Brown wrote. “And she has proved that she can unite the party’s disparate factions,” he continued.
“Her election success in leading House Democrats back to power shows she has a grasp of what sells in swing states as well as blue outposts. And no one can outdo her when it comes to raising money,” he added.
Trump is in “fear” of Pelosi
Brown further argued that President Trump has a level of “fear” and respect for Pelosi, unlike any of the other Democratic politicians he routinely mocks with nicknames and snide remarks.
Indeed, Brown pointed to the lack of any “condescending nickname” from Trump for Pelosi as evidence that he wanted no part in tangling with her, particularly after the “worst defeat of his presidency” when she refused to give in on border wall construction funding demands during the prolonged government shutdown.
Furthermore, Brown also gave Pelosi most, if not all, of the credit for the passage of the Affordable Care Act. He noted that though the health care law has become commonly known as Obamacare, it never would have been passed by Congress in the first place if not for Pelosi’s efforts.
And, for what it’s worth, Brown also joked that Pelosi wouldn’t need a new detail of Secret Service agents if she ran for president and won, as she already has a security detail of around 18 bodyguards in her current role as House Speaker.
Self-inflicted bruises on the left
The suggestion that Nancy Pelosi is the best 2020 presidential candidate that nobody has thought of yet may seem like a bit of a stretch — it may very well be — but would her putative candidacy really be any more outlandish than that of some of the other hopefuls in the race who will be lucky if they are even remembered as also-rans in two years’ time?
The truth is, barring some major — and truly legitimate — scandal that crushes Trump’s popularity with his base and drives away independents, or a massive and persistent economic downturn between now and the 2020 election, President Trump is nearly a lock to retain his position in the White House.
The Democratic primary contest, which really hasn’t even gotten underway quite yet, will be nothing short of brutal as the candidates attack each other over racial and gender identity issues and seek to outflank each other on the left. The constant attacks and incessant leftward push will inevitably result in the eventual nominee emerging bruised and battered and holding a position far to the left of the vast majority of voters, many of whom will cast their vote for Trump or simply stay home altogether.
For all we know, and given the truly uninspiring nature of the current crop of Democratic candidates, Brown could very well be on to something in suggesting that the field is ripe for Pelosi to step in and challenge Trump.
That said, if Brown really thinks that Trump is actually afraid of Pelosi, and hasn’t just been overly diplomatic toward her in a bid to garner cooperation from the legislature, he would be sorely mistaken in that regard. The gloves would inevitably come off at some point and the president would let it rip with what he really thinks about the Speaker — and that would certainly be something to see.
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