Nancy Pelosi had a whole lot to say to Lesley Stahl during the 60 Minutes interview that premiered in full last night. But what comes through clearly is that even as Trump leaves office, Pelosi isn’t going to let go of her favorite punching bag.

The entire aired interview can be seen here, but in picking apart the interview, it was clear that Lesley Stahl was willing to ask Madam Speaker (oops, GENDERED LANGUAGE) some tougher questions than she was expecting. The interview did kick off with Stahl asking for Pelosi’s point of view of what happened last Wednesday, including reminding viewers of the fools who took selfies in Pelosi’s office. And yes, she is angry at Trump, and isn’t shy about letting anyone know that. It’s her solutions for her anger at him that are perhaps a little too farfetched to take seriously.

For example, Pelosi really wants Vice-President Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment to relieve Donald Trump of office, or to have Republicans pressure him to resign.

“I remember when Republicans in the Senate went to see Richard Nixon and said, ‘It's over.’ That's what has to happen now,” says Speaker Pelosi, calling on her Republican colleagues to help remove President Trump from office. https://t.co/GmFwiP2biZ pic.twitter.com/CSPPxxKZ7I

— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) January 11, 2021

She has even issued an ultimatum to Pence since the 60 Minutes interview in the guise of a Dear Colleague letter to her caucus, where she states that if Pence does not use the 25th Amendment, Pelosi wants to impeach President Trump. Again. (Hmmm, maybe you don’t waste impeachment on stupid things? It’s a thought.)

Well, it’s looking more and more unlikely that Vice-President Pence will invoke the 25th Amendment, especially given the resignations of Cabinet members after Wednesday. Their departure means that there is no concerted, organized effort to remove Trump through the prescribed recourse of the 25th Amendment. President Trump’s remarks on Wednesday likely do not meet the criteria for incitement, which are – understandably – very high. Which means that the only recourse Pelosi would have is impeachment, which she could do. However, she already wasted political capital doing this once, and with nine days left to go before Inauguration Day, is it worth it? Pelosi clearly thinks so, but constitutional lawyer Jonathan Turley says no.

So Congress is now seeking an impeachment for remarks covered by the First Amendment. It would create precedent for the impeachment of any president blamed for violent acts of others after using reckless language. What is worse are those few cases that would support this type of action. The most obvious is the 1918 prosecution of socialist Eugene Debs, who spoke against the draft in World War One and led figures like Woodrow Wilson to declare him a “traitor to his country.” Debs was arrested and charged with sedition, a new favorite term for Democrats to denounce Trump and Republicans who doubted the victory of Joe Biden.”

In 1919, Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote for a unanimous bench in one of the most infamous decisions to issue from the Supreme Court. It dismissed the free speech rights for Debs and held it was sufficient that his words had the “natural tendency and reasonably probable effect” of deterring people from supporting the international conflict.”

That decision was a disgrace, but Democrats are now arguing something even more extreme as the basis for impeachment. Under their theory, any president could be removed for rhetoric that is seen to have the “natural tendency” to encourage others to act in a riotous fashion. Even a call for supporters to protest peacefully could not be a defense. Such a standard would allow for a type of vicarious impeachment that attributes conduct of third parties to any president for the purposes of removal.”

What’s even worse is that Pelosi’s Majority Whip, Jim Clyburn, is now suggesting that the House could take up the impeachment of Donald Trump AFTER Joe Biden’s first 100 days in office. Yes, you read that correctly. The “experts” disagree whether such a thing is even legal once a president leaves office, but, as you can tell by the 60 Minutes “Overtime” video – the “end credits” extra scene of this interview, so to speak – Pelosi isn’t giving up on her dream to punish Donald Trump someway, somehow, somewhere.

Meanwhile, Pelosi insists that she’s willing to “compromise” to move forward with her “mandate.” Like with the COVID relief bill. Wait what?

Lesley Stahl asks Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi why the COVID relief package was held up for eight months. https://t.co/reEUPPA8Zx pic.twitter.com/iydZO9LdmF

— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) January 11, 2021

Also, “mandate”??? This woman retained the House Speaker’s gavel with a mere TWO VOTE MAJORITY. There is no “mandate” in the House – not for the Democrats, and definitely not for Nancy Pelosi.

And in the most unexpected – and therefore, hilarious – question of the night, Lesley Stahl has the temerity to bring up age. As in, the House Democrat leadership is all now in their 80’s. And what’s worse for Pelosi, Stahl brings up AOC’s complaints.
https://twitter.com/greg_price11/status/1348458140258488322
Ohhhhh my, the look on Pelosi’s face. You can tell she does NOT like AOC one bit, and yet she’s indebted to her and the rest of the Squad for handing her the Speaker’s gavel once more. And let’s be honest – AOC’s real complaint is that SHE isn’t being groomed for leadership within the party.

Right now, the momentum is with Pelosi and the Democrats, especially after the disastrous Georgia runoff election and the riot at the Capitol. However, the Democrats are not happily unified and they are at risk of committing an own goal if they pursue impeachment in… April. While it may be legal, it will be seen as no more than petty spitefulness when the majority of the electorate would just like to move on. But hey, never stop your opponent when they’re making a mistake.

Featured image: original Victory Girls art by Darleen Click