Bitter Pelosi now says Biden should have dropped out earlier so Democrats could have ‘open primary’

Sadly, he has some…

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) Continued to work your way through the stages of grief vice president Kamala Harris’s election defeat – this time Blamed President Biden for not ending his bid for a second term earlier,

Pelosi (D-Calif.) pointed out, “If the president had dropped out early, there might have been other candidates in the race.” the new York Times In comments published Friday.

“The expectation was that, if the president withdrew, there would be an open primary.”

The 84-year-old added: “And as I say, Kamala would have done, I think she would have done well in it and come out strong going forward. But we don’t know this. It did not happen.

“We are living with what happened, and because President supported Kamala Harris Immediately, this made it almost impossible to actually be primary at that time. If it had happened much earlier, it would have been different.”

Biden, 81, did not endorse Harris in his July 21 announcement that he was dropping out of the 2024 race — instead issuing a second statement minutes later to seal his approval.

The bizarre sequence sparked speculation that either Biden had to be persuaded to endorse his No. 2 or he tried to vacate the field immediately, displaying resentment toward those who kicked him out of the campaign.

Pelosi’s comments to the Times seemed to confirm the second theory, even though the former speaker said during a September event organized by Semaphore: “We had an open primary and (Kamala Harris) won it.”

Pelosi publicly attacked Biden nearly two weeks after the disastrous June 27 debate against Trump in Atlanta, despite only a handful of Democrats having publicly called on the president to step down to that point.

“It’s up to the president to decide whether he’ll run,” Pelosi told MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on July 10. stay in the race,

“We are all encouraging him to make this decision because time is running out,” he said. “It’s not for me to say, I’m no longer the head of the caucus, but he’s beloved, he’s respected, and people want him to make that decision.”

Days before Biden dropped out, Pelosi reportedly warned the president that she would release polling data showing he had no path to re-election after his debate against Trump, who is the chief executive. This appears to be the last straw to persuade C. J. to step down.

Pelosi, who was elected to a 20th House term on Tuesday, was clearly upset after Harris lost to Donald Trump, refusing to speak to reporters at the veep’s Wednesday concession speech held at Howard University.

On Thursday, Lulu Garcia-Navarro, host of The Times’ “The Interview” podcast, said Pelosi was “heartbroken” by Harris’ defeat.

Garcia-Navarro said of her conversation with Pelosi, “She also said she spoke to the vice president and it was a very emotional conversation — that they’re friends — and that that conversation was difficult for both of them. “

In addition to Trump’s victory, Republicans have regained the majority in the Senate after four years out of power and are on track to retain control of the House of Representatives.