President Donald Trump delivered a "bait-and-switch speech" to Congress on Tuesday night, and while he "talks a good talk," he has been president for 41 days and still has not shown enough action, a critical House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi declared Wednesday.
"He hasn't had a proposal on jobs, on infrastructure, not even re-negotiating NAFTA, which he promised," the California Democrat told MSNBC's "Morning Joe," admitting there might be some openings for her to work with Trump depending on what he will say about building the nation's infrastructure.
"We've always come together on that – except when President [Barack] Obama proposed it," Pelosi said. "Of course the Republicans rejected it. But nonetheless, if he has an infrastructure plan that really is a good plan or that we can work together . . . but if it's a tax bill disguised as infrastructure, that's not a plan."
Congressional Democrats remained quiet while Trump spoke, but Pelosi would not comment about whether there was a discussion about how to behave before the speech, joking "what happens in the caucus stays in the caucus."
"Let me tell you this," Pelosi said. "One of our members, who shall remain nameless but probably is in the public domain anyway, said at one of the caucuses, 'Look if you can't curb your enthusiasm there tonight don't go, and I'm not going.'"
It was reported Tuesday that Rep. Maxine Waters of California had decided to stay away from the address, as she would not be able to quietly listen. She also boycotted Trump's inauguration.
"What I was concerned was that people might boo," Pelosi said. "For all of the dignity that we wanted to bring to the address of the president, the fact is, I had no idea he was going to make an assault on public education, that he was going to have nothing positive to say about immigration, that he's going to blow up the deficit. The list goes on and on."
Pelosi said it was "hard to watch" Republicans applauding Trump's calls on the budget, isolationism, and she was "mystified."
Trump, said Pelosi, has made Wall Street No. 1, made "America sick again," instilled fear in the United States, and has not given enough information on Russia.
"[He is] a well-delivered, good salesman, we know that," Pelosi said.
Former Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear, who delivered the Democratic response to Trump's address, commented Democrats spoke for middle America on Tuesday night.
"I wanted to be in that diner in Lexington, Ky., surrounded by friends and neighbors who were both Democrats and Republicans for a reason, because folks in Washington, and particularly the president, need to focus on what all those ideas and all those policies, what they're going to do to real people," Beshear said.
It is also important for Trump to understand the consequences of his actions, particularly when it comes to the Affordable Care Act.
"If they pull back coverage from millions of Americans people are going to die out here," Beshear said. "That may sound dramatic, but that's just the facts, and doctors will tell you that."
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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