Nancy Pelosi: ‘The Times Have Found Us’

Published in El Pais
(Spain) on 25 September 2019
by Pablo Guimón (link to originallink to original)
Translated from by Stephen Routledge. Edited by Helaine Schweitzer.


The retaining wall has collapsed. The straw that is Ukraine has broken the camel’s back. And Nancy Pelosi, the battle-hardened political veteran and speaker of the House of Representatives (the third most powerful position in the country), has succumbed to congressional pressure to launch impeachment proceedings, something she has always considered to be a strategic blunder that was doomed to fail and that she felt had the added potential of scaring off moderate voters.

She managed to curb the anxieties of the most enraged Democrats after the presentation of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report, which found no conclusive evidence against Donald Trump and his alleged collusion with Moscow in the 2016 presidential election. In a Sunday magazine interview with The Washington Post, Pelosi said, “Impeachment is so divisive to the country that unless there's something so compelling and overwhelming and bipartisan, I don't think we should go down that path, because it divides the country. And he's just not worth it." However, today, the woman who has been fighting for more than 30 years in the Washington jungle is of the opinion that “something so convincing and overwhelming and bipartisan” has arrived.

"The times have found us," Pelosi said, paraphrasing Thomas Paine, one of America’s Founding Fathers. “And they have found us today," she added, before solemnly announcing the opening of the political inquiry.

On this occasion, the avalanche of Democrats asking to start the process – including many moderates who had, like her, resisted going down this path in the past – was unstoppable. And the skillful Pelosi decided to take the initiative, arguing that there was no other choice than impeachment. “The actions of the Trump presidency revealed dishonorable facts of betrayal of his oath of office and betrayal of our national security and betrayal of the integrity of our elections,” she said.

But why are things different now? Perhaps it is because this time, the veteran politician has found something that will persuade moderate voters (if not Republican senators), who have been suspicious of hurting the country with a painful process such as this. The new accusations, unlike the 448 pages of the Mueller report, can be summed up in a blunt phrase: the president used his influence to pressure a foreign government in order to air the dirty laundry of a political rival in public, and he sought to use the taxpayers’ money to do it. In short, it might be a result of the seriousness of the accusations. Or it might simply be that Pelosi was no longer able to contain the fury of her party.


Nancy Pelosi: “Los tiempos nos han encontrado”
La veterana presidenta de la Cámara baja decide ahora emprender un 'impeachment' contra Trump que en el pasado consideró "divisivo" y que "simplemente no valía la pena"

El muro de contención cedió. La gota de Ucrania colmó el vaso y Nancy Pelosi, presidenta de la Cámara de Representantes, tercera autoridad del país, veterana política curtida en mil batallas, sucumbió a la energía de sus congresistas y, ahora sí, se lanza a promover un impeachment, que siempre consideró un error estratégico por estar abocado al fracaso y por su potencial de ahuyentar a los votantes moderados.


Logró frenar las ansias de los demócratas más enfurecidos tras la presentación del informe Mueller, que no encontró pruebas determinantes contra Trump y su supuesta connivencia con Moscú en las elecciones presidenciales de 2016. “El proceso de impeachment es tan divisivo para el país que a menos que haya algo tan convincente y abrumador y bipartidista, no creo que deberíamos seguir ese camino. Y simplemente no vale la pena”, dijo entonces, en una entrevista en la revista dominical de The Washington Post. Pero hoy, ese “algo tan convincente y abrumador y bipartidista”, en opinión de la mujer que lleva más de 30 años bregando en la jungla de Washington y conoce como pocos sus entresijos, ha llegado.

“Los tiempos nos han encontrado”, ha dicho Pelosi, parafraseando Thomas Paine, uno de los padres fundadores de Estados Unidos. “Y nos han encontrado ahora”, ha añadido, antes de anunciar solemnemente la apertura del juicio político.

En esta ocasión, la avalancha de demócratas que pedían iniciar el proceso, incluidos muchos moderados que, como ella, se resistieron en el pasado a seguir este camino, era incontenible. Y la hábil Pelosi ha decidido tomar la iniciativa: “Las acciones deshonrosas de la presidencia de Trump, que revelan hechos sobre su traición en su juramento al cargo, su traición a la seguridad nacional y a la integridad de las elecciones”, ha defendido, no dejaban otra alternativa que el impeachment.


¿Pero por qué ahora es diferente? Tal vez sea que la veterana política ha encontrado algo que, esta vez sí, puede convencer, si no a los senadores republicanos, sí al votante moderado receloso de condenar al país en un doloroso proceso como este. Las nuevas acusaciones, al contrario que las 448 páginas del informe Mueller, esta vez sí se pueden resumir en una frase contundente: el presidente utilizó su influencia para presionar a un Gobierno extranjero para sacar trapos sucios de su rival político, y quiso utilizar el dinero del contribuyente para lograrlo. Puede ser, en fin, la particular gravedad de las acusaciones. O quizá sea, simplemente, que Nancy Pelosi ya no podía contener la furia de su partido.
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