President Donald Trump’s speech on Thursday included a number of rather vicious lines, but probably none was crueler than his questioning of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) faith.
Trump said, “Nancy Pelosi is a horrible person. And she wanted to impeach a long time ago, when she said ‘I pray for the president,’ — she doesn’t pray — she may pray but she prays for the opposite, but I doubt she prays at all.”
During that same segment, Trump also attacked House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), calling him a “vicious, horrible person.”
TRUMP: "Adam Schiff is a vicious, horrible person. Nancy Pelosi is a horrible person … I doubt she prays at all." pic.twitter.com/QNUMR4CCOP
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 6, 2020
Pelosi is a devout Catholic who is frequently outspoken about her faith. The National Catholic Reporter named her as the 2019 Newsmaker of the Year for her “steady and thoughtful service to the nation at a time of extraordinary challenge and for exemplifying, in all its complexity, a public and, in this case, political role in which her Catholicism acts as a kind of moral bedrock.”
During her press conference on Thursday, Pelosi addressed Trump’s suggestion that she doesn’t pray, saying, “I don’t know if the president understands about prayer or people who do pray. But we do pray, for the United States of America. I pray for him. I pray for President Bush still. [I pray for] President Obama.”
She later added, “I pray hard for him because he’s so off the track, of our Constitution, our values, our country … He really needs our prayers, so he can say whatever he wants. He can say whatever he wants but I do pray for him and I do so sincerely and without anguish, you know, gently, just the way I pray for everybody else.”
Here’s that clip:
Pelosi on Trump saying he doesn't believe she prays for him: "I pray hard for him b/c he's so off the track of our constitution, our values … he really needs our prayers … I do so sincerely & without anguish … I thought what he said with Romney was especially without class" pic.twitter.com/2567o64hiG
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 6, 2020
Though Trump has bashed Pelosi consistently over the past few months, there is little chance that he is going to be rid of her any time soon as the Democrats are expected to keep the House.