Pelosi has 'deplorable' moment, implies many Republicans too racist, sexist to support Harris

Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California, one of the most powerful and influential Democrats in America, has implied that nearly one-third of all Republicans are too racist, sexist, and homophobic to support Kamala Harris for president in 2024.

That remark came on Saturday, when Pelosi sat down with journalist Kara Swisher, host of the podcast "On with Kara Swisher," at the 2024 Texas Tribune Festival in Austin, Texas.

'You can put half of Trump's supporters into what I call a basket of deplorables.'

Pelosi and Swisher touched on a number of topics, including why former President Donald Trump is still doing so well against Harris in the 2024 presidential polls.

When Swisher asked Pelosi whether she was "worried" about Trump's possible re-election, Pelosi suggested that "30%" of Republican voters are just too bigoted to consider voting for Democrats.

"There are people who will never be, shall we say, inclined to support Democrats because of — they just have a different orientation toward women, people of color, LGBTQ, you know, they just are not ever going to be there," Pelosi replied. "So say that's about like 30% or something like that — of the Republicans."

As the Post Millennial noted, this response from Pelosi was remarkably similar to an infamous statement from Hillary Clinton that likely helped sink her presidential campaign against Trump in 2016. At the time, Clinton characterized "half" of Trump's supporters — in other words, a large segment of the American electorate — as "deplorable."

"You can put half of Trump's supporters into what I call a basket of deplorables," Clinton said. "They're racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic, you name it. And unfortunately, there are people like that, and he has lifted them up."

Pelosi also indicated to Swisher that some Republicans are just "very rich people" who could not care less about "clean air or clean water." They just don't want to pay taxes, she claimed.

Perhaps to soften her remarks, Pelosi then quickly added that some of Trump's supporters have concerns about globalization and immigration. "I think we have to be as respectful and understanding as possible," Pelosi told Swisher.

Despite that call for comity, Pelosi also inexplicably stated that some Republicans feared "innovation."

"They saw the factory down the road move overseas," Pelosi explained. "They're fearful of innovation."

She then tried to give an example: "My father is a truck driver, and now they're going to have all of, you know ..."

As the 84-year-old congresswoman then appeared stuck, Swisher jumped in and added "autonomous truck." "Yeah, and so, so the innovation, globalization, and they include immigration in there," Pelosi continued.

She also insisted that "migration" is not actually a "big job-taker" and that it "fuels the economy."

Another moment from Pelosi and Swisher's hour-long conversation also went viral. At one point, Swisher asked Pelosi to give Trump advice for his debate against Harris on Tuesday night.

"You think he’s gonna show up?" Pelosi asked.

Swisher appeared surprised by the question. "I do. Do you know something that I don't know?" Swisher replied as the audience chuckled in amusement.

"I know cowardice when I see it," Pelosi answered.

In response to a request for comment from Fox News Digital, Steven Cheung of the Trump campaign called Pelosi a "liar and fraud" who "has no idea what she is talking about." Cheung also called the suggestion that Trump would not appear at the debate "fake news."

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