Pelosi tells European leaders she is more powerful than Trump according to the Constitution

Nancy Pelosi has “educated” European allies about who really runs America. She has determined that she is equal to Donald Trump in both power and prestige.

Of course, if she had her way, she would be queen.

“We’re not a parliamentary government even though we’re parliamentarians,” Pelosi said at a press conference, according to Politico. “We have Article 1, the legislative branch, the first branch of government, coequal to the other branches, and we have asserted ourselves in that way.”

Is the Speaker really more powerful than the President?

Well according to one expert, yes and no.

There are two ways to answer: legally or politically.

Legally speaking the Speaker has more power. Not only are they third in the line of Presidential succession, they also have the actual power and authority that goes with being Speaker of the house. While the Senate Majority Leader is “politically” powerful, technically he still has to be recognized and his actions overseen by the Presiding Officer of the Senate, either the Vice President or President pro tempore. The Speaker also has many other administrative and procedural powers that relate to the running of the Congress, such as oversight of the post office and security, whereas the Majority Leader is technically only in charge of his party’s caucus.

Now politically, the answer is ‘depends’ who is there. A strong majority leader may have more sway and political pull than a quiet Speaker. Several times we’ve seen Speakers who were basically compromise or seniority-like choices where the real power was being held by party officials.

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