It’s no surprise that Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is using a walker in the Capitol. Really, it makes her style all the clearer. She is the stalwart of the congressional “gerontocracy.”

“Stalwart” might contain too positive a connotation, but it conveys the point. Pelosi has served as a House member since 1987, and since then, has been in powerful positions, close to important situations, shrewd, and cunning. Her successful ousting of President Joe Biden from the 2024 presidential race is perhaps the best example. Even in an effort against senility, her actions proved the subtext: Biden’s decline was painfully obvious by the time of his debate against President-elect Donald Trump. Pelosi was one of the many Democratic politicians who refused to be honest with voters until the lies about his cognitive state were out in the open.