House Speaker Nancy Pelosi accused President Trump of running a banana republic after his recent photo-op in front of St. John’s Episcopal Church during protests in Washington.
During a Wednesday interview on Morning Joe, the California Democrat questioned Trump’s behavior after he had protesters cleared from in front of the White House on Monday to visit the historic church, which had suffered fire damage from protests the night before.
“These people were demonstrating peacefully, and all of the sudden, this barrage of security came through using clubs to beat people and these explosive … little bullets that explode into stuff that burns your eyes. Maybe they didn’t have tear gas, I don’t know, but they had the elements of it for peaceful demonstrators to make way, make way, for the president to walk through,” Pelosi said.
“What is this? A banana republic?” she said.
A banana republic is an unstable government that oversees an economy reliant on one industry. High-ranking officials often use lower-ranking officials to carry out revenge against their political opponents.
Pelosi also condemned Trump for using religious imagery to carry out what appeared to be only a photo-op.
“It shows the contradiction and the inconsistency. If you’re going to hold up a Bible and stand in front of a church, then your message should be consistent with that Bible and that, those values, and of course, it was not,” Pelosi said.
Protesters were gathered to advocate for an end to racial injustice and reforms for policing following the death of George Floyd, a black man who died after being arrested by a white Minneapolis officer who knelt on his neck. Some of the protests have devolved into riots, including looting, arson, and vandalism.
On Tuesday, Pelosi similarly held up a Bible and quoted scripture when describing the nation’s frustration with policing and racial injustice.
