The USCMA (United States Canada Mexico Agreement) to replace NAFTA has been sitting dormant on Nancy Pelosi’s desk for a year. Pelosi has always known this would pass quickly with strong bipartisan support and that it would be a boon to the economy. Her problem was that it would give President Trump a win, which would not help her Democrat Party.
So why now?
I suggest one reason was because the impeachment hearings were losing momentum. Democrats based their entire case on presumption and hearsay to remove a sitting president. The only “fact witness” testified that Trump said he did NOT want anything. “NO quid pro quo.” And yet, they pressed forward despite dropping support in the polls. Voting on the USCMA now could be a desperately needed lift for her increasingly unpopular Congress.
Another reason is because passing the USCMA now could help vulnerable Democrats in strong Trump districts in 2020. Could Pelosi have offered them this help now in exchange for their vote on impeachment? Dare we say, a quid pro quo?
But I think the main reason is because announcing this one hour after dropping articles of impeachment would be the best way to deprive Trump of a win as it would get drowned out by her announcement to remove him from office. Though it was Trump who negotiated this landmark bill with Canada and Mexico, Pelosi will take credit for it even as she tries to impeach him for putting himself before America.
Pelosi thinks that overturning almost 63 million votes in the last election will “protect our democracy.” Wow, next you’ll be telling me that the proud recipient of Planned Parenthood’s highest award for her passionate support of abortion on demand is a practicing Catholic.
With Pelosi, it’s all politics, all the time.
Gil Mertz
Thousand Oaks
