Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) said in an address Tuesday that she was rooting for the Constitution, not the president, to win the next election, because the two were incompatible.
"We cannot accept a second term for Donald Trump if we are going to be faithful to our democracy and to the Constitution of the United States," she said. "And that is just a fact."
Addressing students at Cornell University's Institute of Politics & Global Affairs, Pelosi set out her theory of the next election.
"We have to make sure—this will sound political but—we have to make sure that the Constitution wins the next presidential election," she said.
The Constitution is not on the ballot, and Trump won the 2016 election by winning the electoral college, as the Constitution prescribes.
Pelosi defied calls from Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) and others in her party to begin impeachment proceedings. She argued instead for winning at the ballot box.
"We can't be worrying about, well, how long is this going to take or that it will take as long as it does," she said. "We must win the next election."
According to Pelosi, impeachment would play into Trump's hands.
"Trump is goading us to impeach him," she said Tuesday. "Every single day, he's just like, taunting, taunting, taunting, because he knows that it would be very divisive in the country, but he doesn’t really care. [He] just wants to solidify his base."
The 16-term congresswoman set out three prongs in her strategy to defeat President Donald Trump.
"So we have to operate on many fronts," she said. "We have to operate in the Congress, in the courts, and in the courts of public opinion."
Pelosi said earlier this week that Democrats need to win "big" in 2020 to ensure the result is respected by the president. Top Democrats continue to deny the legitimacy of several 2018 elections.