In her 20 years main Home Democrats, Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California has been some of the highly effective and iconic girls in Washington. When she was sworn in as speaker in 2007, surrounded by the youngsters of members of Congress, she turned the primary lady to serve in that publish. And through the years, Ms. Pelosi was usually photographed because the lone lady in rooms filled with males, even after the ranks of Congress turned extra various.
All through her profession, Republicans have vilified her; she is now some of the threatened members of Congress. She had a very poisonous relationship with former President Donald J. Trump, and their hostile interactions usually drew consideration, together with when Ms. Pelosi aimed what gave the impression to be sarcastic applause at him at one in every of his State of the Union addresses and when she ripped up a duplicate of his remarks at one other.
Listed below are essentially the most enduring pictures of Ms. Pelosi throughout her speakership and what they imply.
Feb. 5, 2019
The Clap
On the first State of the Union tackle that President Trump delivered to a Democratic-controlled Home, Ms. Pelosi pointedly applauded as Mr. Trump referred to as to finish the “politics of revenge.” She later stated that she had not supposed the gesture to be “sarcastic” and actually welcomed his message. However the second, which went viral, concisely captured the dynamic of their relationship for the following two years.
Ms. Pelosi carefully oversaw the impeachment proceedings towards Mr. Trump, directing Democrats to maneuver ahead with an official inquiry and personally overseeing the vote that sealed him as solely the third American president to be impeached.
“The president leaves us no alternative however to behave as a result of he’s attempting to deprave, as soon as once more, the election for his personal profit,” she stated.
Ms. Pelosi has repeatedly stated that no situation drives her as singularly as securing the well-being of the nation’s youngsters — a lot in order that her rallying cry turned “for the youngsters.” When she was first elected speaker, Ms. Pelosi invited the youngsters and grandchildren of lawmakers to affix her on the rostrum to underscore the purpose. She repeated the transfer once more in 2019 when she received the speaker’s gavel a second time.
The Aftermath of the 2022 Midterm Elections
A second of reflection. Within the aftermath of the midterms, Democrats and Republicans face key questions about the way forward for their events. With the Home and Senate now determined, right here’s the place issues stand:
Ms. Pelosi herself raised 5 youngsters earlier than getting into politics, a chapter she credit with educating her every thing she wanted to find out about tips on how to herd and hound politicians. She alluded to that historical past on Thursday as she introduced that she would step down from management.
When she first visited the Home flooring at age 6, she stated, “by no means would I’ve thought that sometime I’d go from homemaker to Home speaker.”
Feb. 4, 2020
Ripping Trump’s Speech
As Mr. Trump completed his State of the Union tackle in 2020, Ms. Pelosi, clad in a white pantsuit that evoked the ladies’s suffrage motion, stood stone-faced, and ripped her copy of his speech in half, tossing the remnants on the podium.
The transfer apparently outraged Mr. Trump, however she later advised Democratic lawmakers in a closed-door assembly that she felt “very liberated” by the act. If anybody had finished any shredding, she advised them, it was Mr. Trump, who “shred the reality proper in entrance of us.”
Ms. Pelosi later stated she saved the shreds of the speech.
Jan 3. 2019
Hassle From the Left
Tensions between Ms. Pelosi and younger progressive Democrats elected in 2018 like Consultant Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York simmered and generally boiled over, because the group of liberal girls of coloration often called “the Squad” pressed for her to take extra aggressive ideological stances and the long-serving speaker questioned their effectiveness.
Dec. 11, 2018
Oval Workplace Showdown
Weeks after Democrats received management of the Home within the 2018 midterms, Ms. Pelosi and Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, then the minority chief, sat down with Mr. Trump on the White Home, in a gathering that rapidly become a televised contest of wills.
“Mr. President,” she stated at one level as Mr. Trump tried to undercut her, “please don’t characterize the power that I carry.”
In the long run, Ms. Pelosi emerged triumphant, sliding on sun shades as she strode out of the White Home in a rust-colored coat. The image was shared so extensively on-line that the maker of her outerwear reissued it.
Oct. 16, 2019
Standing Out
Clashes between Ms. Pelosi and Mr. Trump on the White Home turned one thing of a routine through the two years during which she served as speaker, and he as president. After a contentious assembly on Syria in 2019, Mr. Trump tweeted a picture captured by a White Home photographer displaying Ms. Pelosi, at an extended convention desk surrounded nearly completely by males, standing and wagging her finger at him.
Aug. 3, 2022
Journey to Taiwan
Ms. Pelosi, who has made difficult China on human rights a signature situation in her congressional profession, was criticized for a visit to Taiwan final summer time, which she made regardless of warnings from the Biden administration to not threat upsetting Beijing.
March 22 and 23, 2010
Passing the Inexpensive Care Act
With out Ms. Pelosi, one in every of former President Barack Obama’s defining achievements, the passage of the Inexpensive Care Act, might need by no means turn into legislation.
With arm-twisting and tactical savvy, Ms. Pelosi was capable of muster sufficient help in her divided caucus to cross the laws, a feat that caused a historic drop within the variety of Individuals with out medical insurance. About 35 million individuals have gained protection underneath the Inexpensive Care Act and the growth of Medicaid.
Ms. Pelosi just lately referred to as passage of the legislation her “main accomplishment.”
January 2021
Assault on the Capitol and Trump’s Second Impeachment
After pro-Trump rioters stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, Ms. Pelosi rapidly labored with congressional leaders to safe the constructing so lawmakers might return and affirm President Biden’s victory — after which she moved to question Mr. Trump.
In a later interview, Ms. Pelosi joked that she would have fended off the rioters together with her trademark 4-inch stiletto heels, a mainstay of her wardrobe.
“Nicely, I’m fairly powerful,” she advised USA At present. “I’m a road fighter. They’d have had a battle on their palms.”
Annie Karni contributed reporting.