Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi recently visited Taiwan amid increasing tension between Washington and Beijing. Chinese state media figures even threatened that the plane carrying Pelosi could be shot down if she attempted to land in the Taiwanese capital of Taipei. Pelosi landed without incident, but the unprecedented weakness exhibited by the Biden administration abroad has led to China trying to exploit these creases in American leadership. They're doing so by issuing threats against top congressional leaders, like in the case of Pelosi, and demanding we halt arms shipments to the island. The Biden administration, meanwhile, has charted a waffled path of supporting Taiwan's right to self-defense but not their struggle for independence per the One China policy.
There's a real threat of invasion as China executed a series of high-intensity, live-fire military exercises around the island. Pelosi held a series of interviews about her trip, which was in the interests of the United States but was marred by a heinous error on her "Today" show hit. She called China "one of the freest societies in the world" (via NY Post):
“We still support the One China policy. We go there to acknowledge the status quo is what our policy is. There was nothing disruptive about that,” Pelosi said.
“It was only about saying China is one of the freest societies in the world,” she added. “Don’t take it from me, that’s from Freedom House.”
Drew Hammill, Pelosi’s deputy chief of staff, later clarified that the speaker made an unfortunate slip and meant to refer to Taiwan instead.
“The Speaker’s record of speaking out against the Chinese Communist Party for 35 years in the Congress is unsurpassed,” Hammill tweeted.
Pelosi’s office also directed The Post to Freedom House’s 2021 report on “Freedom in the World” which gave Taiwan a “global freedom score” of 94 out of a possible 100.
Do we butcher her over this? She meant to say Taiwan, but it shows that Joe Biden isn't the only one having senior moments.
How do you make that gaffe, Nancy? We know you're in a bit of a legal tangle with your husband's DUI arrest, with the latest development showing that some narcotic was in his system at the time. We have no further details, but we all know a top Democrat husband will get off scot-free. It's the Pelosi family. They're royalty in the Golden State. There could have been a communication error in the relay, but the entire trip will now revolve around this nasty trip-up.