House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) is shutting her eyes and ears to any news that "Democrats are in increasing trouble" in November's midterm elections, the New York Times reported Monday.
Pelosi, who is doing a frantic campaign blitz across the Midwest as polls and election analysts predict a Republican wave, said she is incredulous that Republicans could actually win.
"I cannot believe anybody would vote for these people," Pelosi said.
The speaker's incredulity comes as Democratic president Joe Biden oversees unprecedented levels of inflation and an economy that teeters on the brink of recession. Economists widely believe that Biden's $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan and $738 billion Inflation Reduction Act, both of which Pelosi steered through the House, have exacerbated inflation.
Under Democrats' watch, crime has also spiked throughout the country. In New York City, for example, crime rose 15.2 percent in the last year.
Pelosi, whom the Times depicted as "abrupt and impatient," snapped at reporters for doing their jobs. She "lamented the opportunity cost of talking to a reporter when she could be working on her cellphone instead," saying, "My time is money."
The speaker also turned a "steely stare" on journalists who asked if she would honor her 2018 promise to retire as the House's Democratic leader, asking, "Do you think I would respond to that question?"
While the Times in this report wondered if the campaign blitz is Pelosi's "last hurrah," the liberal paper noted earlier this year that she is running for reelection in her deep-blue district.
Pelosi may well "break her 2018 pledge," the Times noted in August, because she views "a demotion to the backbench" as "inconceivable."