When you’ve lost Nancy Pelosi, you might as well clear out your desk.
Amid all the chaos and whiplash in US politics over the past few weeks, one law remained constant: Pelosi is uniquely influential and has the power to make or break careers – even those of American presidents.
The former House speaker did more than anyone else to re-engineer the race for the White House, breathing new life into her Democratic party and sending Donald Trump’s Republicans into a tailspin.
Pelosi, 84, publicly encouraged 81-year-old Joe Biden to make a decision about his re-election campaign when he had already insisted he had no plans to step aside. Once he did drop out and endorse Kamala Harris, Pelosi scored another victory when former congressman Tim Walz was named as running mate.
They do. As do Republican, third party, and politically neutral elites.
In a system specifically designed to reward greed, ruthlessness, and authoritarian tendencies, you don’t get to be one of the elites without being an awful person.
It does seem inevitable in the systems that we have built that you eventually sell out.
Only if your greed and lust for power are stronger than your higher principles.
You can fight the system, even from the inside, without selling out, but they won’t let you pull the levers behind the scenes unless you’re much more rich and/or powerful than it’s possible to become without selling out.
For an easy and obvious example, see Bernie Sanders. He’s stood behind his principles from the day he was born and never sold out to anyone. He’s a beloved figure across the whole country and a huge percentage of Americans supported his run for president.
He has next to zero power, outside of using his established position to shame other politicians. If you’re immune to shame, he can do nothing.