Nancy Pelosi claims 30% of Republicans are sexist, racist and homophobic

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has suggested that 30 percent of Republican voters would never support a Democratic candidate because he or she is sexist, racist or homophobic.

The California Democrat's astonishing remark immediately drew comparisons to Hillary Clinton's infamous “basket of wretches” directed against Donald Trump supporters and Utah Republican Senator Mitt Romney's “47%” comment about Barack Obama supporters “who don't pay income taxes.”

“There are people who, let's say, will never be inclined to support the Democrats because – they just have a different attitude toward women, people of color, LGBTQ, you know, they're just never going to be there,” Pelosi said Saturday during an interview with the Texas Tribune Festival as she reflected on why the 2024 presidential election is so close.

“So let’s say that’s about 30% or so… Republican,” she said.

The Golden State Democrat also suspected that the rich support Republicans to keep their taxes low and spare their companies from additional costly environmental regulations.

“Then you have very, very rich people who actually don't want to pay taxes or don't want regulations for clean air, clean water or anything like that. So you have to deal with that. There aren't as many very, very rich people anymore, but there's a lot of money that goes into an election campaign,” she said.

In fact, 59-year-old Vice President Kamala Harris has clearly overtaken 78-year-old Trump in fundraising in the fight for the White House: In August alone, she raised around $361 million, surpassing her rival's $130 million.

Pelosi herself had seen her personal wealth grow by tens of millions of dollars during her time at the head of the Democratic Conference in the House of Representatives.

Despite her disparagement of Republican voters, Pelosi urged Democrats to show “understanding” toward their political opponents.

“We need to be as respectful and understanding as possible,” Pelosi said. “There are people who are worried. They're afraid of globalization. They've seen the factory down the street move overseas. They're afraid of innovation.”

She also accused Trump of being a skilled “quack.”

In the 2016 election cycle, Clinton caused a stir by denigrating the Republican voting bloc.

“You can put half of Trump's supporters in what I call a basket of deplorables,” she said at the time. “They're racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic, whatever. And unfortunately, there are people like that, and he has promoted them.”

Romney had already stirred up a similar reaction during a fundraiser in May 2012. The event was secretly recorded and made public shortly before the election.

“47 percent of people will vote for the president [Obama] no matter what happens … who depend on the government, who believe they are victims,” ​​Romney said at the fundraiser.

“These are people who don't pay income tax. … and so it's not my job to worry about these people. I'll never convince them that they should take personal responsibility and take care of their lives.”

While Pelosi was aware of the close election campaign in 2024, she was optimistic that the “twice impeached” Trump would soon be “twice defeated.”

Trump was elected president in 2016, lost to former Vice President Joe Biden in 2020 and is now launching his comeback attempt against Harris.

Since July, Pelosi has been the subject of intense speculation about her role in President Biden's withdrawal from the race, paving the way for Harris's candidacy.

The former spokeswoman admitted in an interview with ABC's “The View” on Monday that she has not spoken to the president since then.

“My point was that we need a better campaign. As I said, a decision to win. I didn't see us on the path to victory. So it wasn't a matter of him not running. It's just that we need to run differently in this case,” she said.

Pelosi praised Biden as “patriotic,” “selfless” and “the greatest president of modern times,” while stressing that the push to get Harris across the finish line on November 5 was also an attempt to “preserve his legacy.”