Pelosi tells Trump ice-cream in her freezer is 'better than lysol in somebody's lungs'
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi fired back at President Donald Trump on Tuesday, April 27, after he took a swipe at her for showing off a freezer full of ice cream during a recent television appearance. The Speaker, in turn, mocked Trump and brought up his widely criticized suggestion of considering injecting or inhaling disinfectant as a possible treatment for coronavirus.
"He makes a big fuss about my having ice cream in my freezer — that’s his latest today, his most current today. I guess it's better than having Lysol in somebody’s lungs as he’s suggesting," Pelosi said during an appearance at MSNBC on April 27.
Pelosi, earlier this month, had drawn the Republicans' ire after she appeared during a segment on 'The Late Late Show with James Corden,' talking about her quarantine stash of ice-cream as she showed the viewers over a dozen pints she had stored in her freezer. Republicans slammed Pelosi's actions, calling her an elitist.
Trump, in the latest attack on the Speaker, slammed House Democrats for reversing course on their plan to begin the workings of the chamber next week. “I think they should be back here, but they don’t. They’re enjoying their vacation," he said. "You look at Nancy Pelosi eating ice cream on late-night television," Politico reported.
Pelosi, during her MSNBC interview with Nicole Wallace, addressed the controversy, saying her gaffe was nothing compared to the president suggesting dangerous ideas as a possible coronavirus treatment during his coronavirus task force briefing last week.
"We have a problem with the president. I don’t know why some other Republicans in the country, in the establishment, you know many of them well, are not just speaking out and saying this is not the Republican Party," she said. "The Republican Party is a Grand Old Party in our country. I say to my Republican friends, and I do have some, take your party back. We need a strong Republican party in our country that has contributed so much to the success in America. And yet we have people being silent on this behavior."
Wallace, during the segment, then acknowledged that Pelosi was raising a good point and wondered what Trump-critic John McCain's response would have been to an outrageous suggestion of "injecting bleach."
"It’s such a good point that as you’re talking," Wallace told Pelosi. "I’m trying to figure out what John McCain or John Boehner, what their profanity-laced response would have been, that I couldn’t have put on this program but that you certainly would have heard and I might have heard about injecting bleach."
She continued, “I mean, you’re right. It’s Trump. He’s the problem. And he is more likely to see you on TV than if you went down there. They’re not wearing masks anyway, so I’m not sure that is a safe idea. Just expand a little bit on this idea of a zombie GOP. Did they speak out in the same way that the state of Washington spoke out, and the makers of Lysol spoke out, I think Governor Hogan spoke out?"
She went on: "Where are the Republican House members who don’t want their kids or loved ones injecting bleach to their body to clean their lungs? Have you heard from any of them?”
Pelosi then responded, saying that some Republicans had spoken out and criticized Trump's comments as dangerous, and added that she had witnessed a strong bipartisan support in her next bill too.
"Governor Hogan is Republican, and he certainly has spoken up and other governors," the speaker said.
"We had strong bipartisan support, Democrats, and Republicans in support of state and local investments as we go forward in the next bill. That is to support our heroes, our healthcare providers, our first responders, police, fire, emergency services, people, our teachers, our transit workers, our postal workers who deliver the mail and medicine to many people in our country certainly our seniors over time, our food providers, the list goes on.”