Nancy Pelosi at SXSW: Former House Speaker Hopes Rival Bank Buys Silicon Valley Bank; Talk about “Cult” and “Thug” Republican Party

Anyone who missed his Sunday sermon this morning in Austin, Texas heard it in full from the 52nd former Speaker of the House, who was here for SXSW. The Atlantic Ocean Session “The Future of Global Democracy”.

Nancy Pelosi has explored a variety of issues affecting democracy and the nation’s well-being, including the collapse of the Silicon Valley bank in its San Francisco backyard, Fox News’ Tucker Carlson, Republicans promoting political violence — and just that in the first 20 minutes of their hour-long session.

As for Silicon Valley Bank, after a meeting with the FDIC last night, Pelosi is hoping a rival bank will step up and buy up the battered financial institution before the market opens Monday, so it doesn’t fall on taxpayer money.

“I don’t think there is a need in the country to bail out a bank. But we have to honor depositors,” Pelosi said in the LINE Hotel ballroom today.

“A lot of small businesses have accounts at this bank, they have money there so they can pay the payroll,” Pelosi told Business.

“If they can’t pay the salary or the utility bill, it literally goes to hell. There are many reasons why we need to be selective about this. We don’t want contagion,” Pelosi said, referring to a domino effect that would bring down other banks in the US.

“We don’t want this to become systemic because it will hurt the economy and everybody else,” said the representative for California’s 11th congressional district.

Approaching Hollywood’s home, Roku announced Friday that it has nearly half a billion of its $1.9 billion in cash and equivalents in Silicon Valley Bank.

“The company’s assets at SVB are largely unsecured. At this time, the company does not know to what extent the company will be able to recover its money on deposit with the SVB,” Roku said in an SEC filing.

The conversation turned to the Jan. 6 riots, and Fox News’ Tucker Carlson recently exclaimed in newly released footage of the anarchist protest that the people who stormed the Capitol were not insurgents, but tourists.

“Here’s the thing. We had a president of the United States who started a rebellion,” she said of Donald Trump, “that day was as horrible as people thought; the attack on this temple of democracy, they made an attack on our constitution…”

“They refused to send in the National Guard,” she continued, “I was a prime target, but I had security guards to get me out of there.” I was worried about my members, the press, the traumatized staff, the maintenance people who maintained the Capitol while those anarchists were doing shit on the floor.”

“Something like this must be wrong with Tucker Carlson,” she said. Without naming Fox News, Pelosi added, “There’s a lot of money going into getting more viewers … they were more enthusiastic about what he said.” Atlantic Ocean Today’s discussion was not about the Dominion Voice System’s $1.6 billion lawsuit against Fox News.

Pelosi wanted to make it clear that she is not anti-Republican. According to them, this is how the Elephant Festival turned out. “They are a great old party who have done great things. Instead, you became a cult, a criminal.

“There is an anarchic mood in our country,” she said. “We want to respect everyone’s opinion and find common ground.”

Pelosi wondered why the right wing was no longer in control. But again: “The radical right’s destruction comes from someone who fuels it,” referring to Trump.

As for the turn against women’s suffrage and other issues, the bottom line is that the nation elects those “who honor their oath of office.”

“The main way to do that is through elections … we just have to win. People who believe in their oath of office should win, no matter what party they belong to,” Pelosi said.

Speaking about the wave of political violence in the country, Pelosi added that “many of the people who are driving all of this are in the United States Congress.” She said her husband Paul Pelosi, who was attacked by a hammer-wielding intruder at their home in Pacific Heights, San Francisco, was finally able to travel with her to Austin today.

“I was targeted and he paid the price,” she said today.

“What you see on the other side … it’s like a limbo competition they have with themselves. How deep can they feed the flame.

Pelosi mentioned how the right is capitalizing on cultural issues like LGBTQ and a woman’s right to vote: “In my opinion, no politician should make a statement about what a person should do in their personal life,” the Catholic politician archbishop doesn’t say, I think, but that’s his problem.”

When Pelosi was asked if she was sure Trump would be our next president, Pelosi replied, “No. But we’ve let him down twice and he’ll lose twice.”