Pelosi: US needs a ‘strong’ Republican Party and ‘this is not it’

Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Wednesday, the morning after President Biden’s State of the Union address, that she believes the country needs a “strong” Republican Party but “this is not it.”

“It’s not our judgment about what it should be — it’s their judgment — but it’s a missed opportunity for America,” the former Speaker said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”

She pointed to the 15 votes and nearly a week of negotiations that it took House Republicans to elect Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) as Speaker, calling it “inept.”

Republican lawmakers repeatedly heckled the president during his speech before a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night, with members yelling and booing at points they disagreed with.

McCarthy, who had previously made a point of saying the GOP would abide by the congressional “code of ethics” and would not play “childish games,” shushed his conference on several occasions throughout the speech.

However, he later defended his members as “passionate” and blamed Biden for “trying to goad” them on.

While House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) slammed Republicans for heckling Biden on Tuesday night, suggesting they are unfit to serve in office, Pelosi remained largely unfazed by the outbursts.

“Well, actually, it was, for them, fairly well-behaved, from what we see every day of the week in the House of Representatives, unfortunately,” she told CNN on Tuesday night.

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