Former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Democrat of California, was criticized as “elite” during a recent Oxford Union debate, where she argued that populism in the United States posed a threat to democracy.
Pelosi – a self-proclaimed person “Devout” Catholic — said during the April 25 debate that some Americans, whom she considered “poor souls looking for answers,” refuse to accept the answers Democrats give them on particular topics because of their beliefs about ” guns, gays (and) God.”
Challenging Pelosi’s position in the populism debate, Winston Marshall, a musician who was once part of Mumford and Sons and now hosts the “Marshall Matters” podcast for The Spectator, spoke out against Pelosi’s position in the populism debate. debate on populism. Oxford Union Movement that “This House believes that populism is a threat to democracy.”
The Oxford Union, at the famous British university, considers itself a defender of free speech and has hosted events with many American politicians in the past, including the former Republican speakers of the House of Representatives, Newt Gingrich and Kevin McCarthy.
Marshall argued during the April 25 debate that the meaning of the word “populist” had been changed by “elites (who) failed” to align with their own narrative.
PELOSI UNIVERSITY’S SPEECH INTERRUPTED BY ANTI-ISRAEL AGITATORS: “WARMONGER”
Pelosi – a self-described “devout Catholic” – claimed that populism is a threat to democracy and appeared to suggest that some Americans refuse to accept the answers Democrats give them on particular issues because of their beliefs about “the guns, gays, (and) “God.” (Getty Images)
“‘Populism’ has become a word used synonymously with ‘racist’. We’ve heard ‘ethno-nationalist,’ we’ve said ‘bigot,’ we’ve heard ‘mountain,’ ‘redneck,’ we’ve said ‘deplorable,’” Marshall said. Pelosi had argued in her remarks that contemporary American populism currently has an ethno-nationalist character.
“Elites use it to show their contempt for ordinary people,” Marshall said.
Marshall argued that the change meaning of the word “populist”“ is “a recent change,” and pointed to a 2016 speech by then-President Barack Obama, who he said “took umbrage at the idea of Trump being called a populist.”
“On the contrary, Obama argued that he was the populist. On the contrary, Obama argued that Bernie was the populist,” he said. “Something curious happens. If you look at Obama’s speeches after that, more and more recently he uses the word ‘populist’ interchangeably with ‘strongman,’ ‘authoritarian.’ The word changes its meaning . It becomes negative, derogatory, insulting.
Pelosi bristles at comparison between January 6 and Portland BLM riots
Highlight the Riots at the Capitol on January 6, 2021, which he considered “a dark day for America,” Marshall said: “I’m sure Congresswoman Pelosi would agree that throughout the month of June 2020, when the federal courthouse in Portland, in Oregon, was under siege and insurrection by radical progressives, these were also dark days for America. »
At that point, Pelosi raised her hand and said, “There is no equivalence… This is not like what happened on January 6, which was an insurrection incited by the president the United States. »
“My point, though, is that all political movements are susceptible to violence, even insurrection,” Marshall said. “Populism is not a threat to democracy. Populism is democracy. And why have universal suffrage if not to control the elites?”
Marshall said he was “rather surprised” that Pelosi argued in favor of the motion because he believed “the left was supposed to be anti-elite” and “the left was supposed to be anti-establishment.”
“Today, especially in America, the globalist left has become the establishment,” he continued. “I suspect that if Ms. Pelosi had adopted this side of the debate, she would have found herself out of a job.
Marshall went on to assert that “populism is the voice of the voiceless” and that “the real threat to democracy comes from elites.”
PELOSI ACCUSES MSNBC HOST OF BEING A TRUMP ‘APOLOLOGIST’ TO ADD CONTEXT TO JOB NUMBERS
Winston Marshall asserted that “populism is the voice of the voiceless” and that “the real threat to democracy comes from the elites.” (Getty Images)
“Now, make no mistake, we need elites. If President Biden has shown us anything, we need someone to lead the countries,” he said. “When the president suffers from severe dementia, it’s not just America that collapses, it’s the whole world that burns.”
Marshal focused on scrutinizing elites, saying he believed Trump should have accepted the poll results. 2020 presidential election.
“It would therefore be necessary Hillary in 2016“The same goes for Brussels and Westminster in 2016, as well as Congresswoman Pelosi, instead of saying the 2016 election was, quote, ‘hijacked.’
“It was,” Pelosi said, drawing laughter from those in attendance.
“That doesn’t mean we don’t accept the results,” she added.
During his speech opposing the motion, Marshall also took aim at social media companies that suspended Trump from their platforms following the Jan. 6 protests at the Capitol and the traditional media.
“The mainstream media elites are part of a class that not only despises populism, but also the people. If the Democrats had devoted half their energy to meeting the people’s expectations, Trump wouldn’t even have had chance in 2024. from power for four years From the fabricated Steele dossier to the attempts to remove him from the ballot in Maine and Colorado, Democrats are the anti-Democratic party,” he said.
“Populism is not a threat to democracy. But I’ll tell you what it is: It’s elites ordering social media to censor political opponents,” Marshall said. “…It’s Brussels, DC, Westiminster, big media, big tech, big pharma, corporate collusion and the Davos cronies.”
In her speech before Marshall, Pelosi said: “Democracy is the rule of law, democracy is free and fair elections, democracy is an independent judiciary, is freedom of the press, transparency and accountability of elected officials towards the people. “
“This is all of this, and this is everything that the populist regime in Washington, D.C., is opposed to,” she added. “Ethno-nationalist populism, much like the threat to democracy, is aimed at threatening what they call the elites, the free press,” she said. “It’s about fighting the issues around free and fair elections, where we have voter suppression to the nth degree under this regime and its resistance to passing the Voting Rights Act, John’s Law Lewis, all that.”
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
At one point, speaking of those who may consider themselves part of the populist movement and/or who are “poor souls looking for answers,” Pelosi said, “We’ve given them to them, but they’re stuck.” by some of their views on guns – they have the three G’s, guns, gays, God, it would be a woman’s right to choose – and cultural issues cloud some of their reception of an argument that is truly in their interest.
The motion debated by Marshall and Pelosi ultimately received a positive vote from attendees at the Oxford Union event, 177 to 68.
