Nancy Pelosi (Literally) Rips Trump’s Speech Apart

Readers both praise and criticize the president’s speech and the speaker’s action when it was over.
Feb. 5, 2020, 4:52 p.m. ET

Speaker Nancy Pelosi ripping up a copy of President Trump’s address, which he had handed to her while refusing to shake her hand at the beginning of the evening.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi ripping up a copy of President Trump’s address, which he had handed to her while refusing to shake her hand at the beginning of the evening. Credit...Erin Schaff/The New York Times

To the Editor:

Re “Emboldened Trump Makes 2020 Case” (front page, Feb. 5):

The state of our union is divided. Half the country believes, as the founders did, that virtue and character matter profoundly in the office of the president and that Donald Trump’s pressuring a foreign government to dig up dirt on his political opponent was an egregious abuse of power. The other half shrugs their shoulders and wants to move on.

In this vein, the president’s State of the Union address did nothing to bridge the divide. It resembled a political rally, with Mr. Trump lying about the economic recovery he was handed by President Obama and lying about wanting to protect the health care of Americans with pre-existing conditions when his administration is in court trying to take those protections away by dismantling Obamacare.

The president’s supporters cheered him on. But that wasn’t enough. Mr. Trump went so far as to award the Presidential Medal of Freedom to a divisive figure — Rush Limbaugh — who has spent his career encouraging hate of the “other.” The State of the Union address is an improper venue for such a controversial act.

But this is where we are. Sadly, the state of our union cannot be strong and hopelessly divided at the same time. Surely we can do better.

Felicia Massarsky
Atlantic City, N.J.

To the Editor:

In tearing up her copy of the State of the Union speech before the cameras, Nancy Pelosi embarrassed us all by sinking to President Trump’s level of childish, vindictive behavior. The speech was, indeed, full of half truths and outright lies. Mr. Trump has damaged the nation’s DNA with regard to truth and honor, like a virus gone amok. But let’s not descend to even quietly controlled tantrums; rather, let’s vote this tyrant out of office in November.

Susan Wunder
Bloomington, Ind.

To the Editor:

Nancy Pelosi tore up President Trump’s State of the Union speech just as Mr. Trump is tearing up our Constitution.


Good for her!

Susan Wellek
Northbrook, Ill.

To the Editor:

After spending three angry years attempting to tear down the Trump presidency, the Democratic Party had to settle for tearing up his written words by the petty and fuming Nancy Pelosi.

From the Mueller report hitting the floor with a thud through the litany of impeachable offenses they struggled to come up with, the Democratic Party exhibited its growing incompetency to offer anything other than rage and indignation.

While the president recited his formidable successes for all America in his State of the Union address, the Democrats have their Iowa caucuses to offer in rebuttal.

Larry Volkening
Houston

To the Editor:

More and more, in talking with my friends, I hear the constant refrain, “I don’t want to live like this anymore!” In short, we are suffering collectively from deep bouts of depression.

The most recent State of the Union by a deeply disturbed person only adds to the feelings of hopelessness and despair. One cannot stand the constant, never-ending bombardment of lies, and the bizarre antics of the president and his Republican cronies. It’s too much to bear.

Having lived through Watergate, the Clinton impeachment, Vietnam, the McCarthy hearings, etc., I can say without any hesitation that this is the worst in my nearly 82 years. I fear for this country as never before. It doesn’t help in the slightest to say that we’ve survived bad times before when one feels that this is worse than anything that’s happened, at least in my lifetime.

Is there any hope that we can recover from this never-ending nightmare? The prospect of four more years sends me deeper and deeper into further depression.

Ian I. Mitroff
Berkeley, Calif.

To the Editor:

As a native of Venezuela, I saw two things when Juan Guaidó, the leader of the opposition against President Nicolás Maduro, was recognized by President Trump with a bipartisan standing ovation:

Venezuelan democracy has a chance. There are now many Venezuelans who can have hope for clean, democratic elections, not rigged elections with the taste of narco-terrorism. It made me feel great.

However, the second thing I saw was creepy. Venezuela and Juan Guaidó were mere re-election campaign tools for Mr. Trump. He implied (“Socialism destroys nations”) that the Democratic Party and Mr. Maduro are the same.

Mr. Trump’s support for Venezuela’s democracy is just a campaign strategy to fight Democrats and to get the South Florida Venezuelan-American vote. Well, he failed to get mine.

I will grant that Mr. Trump may have a genuine interest in Venezuela: the oil. I do believe in his love for oil.

Aura Cecilia Rengifo
Miami Beach