The Art of Power: My Story as America’s First Woman Speaker of the House

Donald Trump (1946-) is the 45th and 47th president of the United States. In The Art of Power, Pelosi presents Trump as an undisciplined president who, during his first term, embodied the worst impulses of American political culture. She sees him as a figure who continues to be dangerous to the health of American democracy. He serves as a foil to her.



Pelosi uses Trump as an example of what happens when a powerful politician is self-interested and dishonest. She excoriates Trump for his role in the riots of January 6th, 2021; his efforts to pressure President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine to dig up damaging information on the son of his political opponent; and his habit of telling so many untruths that it was hard to negotiate with him during his first presidency. She blames his family and staff for not restraining him, a point that underscores her belief that a good leader’s work comes from having ethical, effective collaborators. 

For Pelosi, Trump is emblematic of dangerous, wider trends in American political culture, particularly in Republican politics. She highlights his crude attacks on her and others, his greed, and his focus on benefiting himself as traits that are increasingly prominent in the political culture of the US.

George W. Bush (1946-) served as the 43rd president of the United States. Pelosi characterizes him as an affable president who respected the protocols of his office but who nevertheless failed as a president because of his lack of honesty with the American people, his insistence on testing the restraints imposed on him during the US war in Iraq, and his incompetence when it came to handling the US recession of 2007.

Pelosi first presents Bush as a gracious person who, during a meeting in the Oval Office, acknowledged her unprecedented role as a woman in the leadership of her party. Her positive representation of the president shifts in Chapter 3 and Chapter 5. In Chapter 3, she describes him as an actively dishonest and incompetent leader who distorted intelligence on Iraq to pursue a war he knew was not justified. Pelosi goes into detail about how she used her knowledge of legislative language to limit his war powers. Her portrayal of this conflict makes Bush yet another foil to Pelosi, who depicts herself as having always been straightforward and competent in her use of power.

Pelosi also includes a negative representation of Bush in Chapter 5, which covers legislative efforts to save the economy during the recession of 2007. She characterizes Bush as once again not being forthcoming with the American people, and being too passive in his administration’s approach to addressing the crisis. She represents one of his primary cabinet members, Secretary of the Treasury Hank Paulson, as an avatar for the passivity of the administration. Pelosi ultimately presents Bush as an example of what power without ethics and competence looks like.

Barack Obama served as the 44th president of the United States. Pelosi presents Obama as an inexperienced Democratic politician who nevertheless managed to get great things done by collaborating with Pelosi and the House.

Obama was a presidential candidate during the economic crisis that began in 2007. Pelosi represents him as a person whose contributions about plans to halt the economic freefall showed good judgment and forethought, despite his lack of political experience. Pelosi, always a Democratic partisan, contrasts Obama with Republican John McCain, the other presidential candidate in the room, to show that even an inexperienced Democratic politician had more to contribute than an experienced politician like John McCain.

According to Pelosi, Obama was a man of his word who followed through on his campaign pledge to address the issues of affordable healthcare. Pelosi characterizes the Obama administration as one in which Obama took the unprecedented step of allowing the House to craft Pelosi’s signature piece of legislation. While she takes other presidents to task for departing from protocols and traditions, she praises Obama for his unusual, collaborative approach to governing.

Not all is positive in her portrayal of Obama. She faults him for holding out for Republican votes for the ACA—a path he chose, she implies, because of his inexperience in dealing with Republican leaders. She very carefully describes the Obama administration as one that signed into law legislation that addressed some of the progressive agenda that was only fully realized during the administration of Joe Biden. Obama ultimately serves as a foil to Donald Trump and George W. Bush.

Pelosi frequently represents the relationship between the House and the Senate with the saying, “Republicans are our opposition, but the Senate is our enemy” (51), a phrase she attributes to Representative John Dingell. Throughout the book, Pelosi describes the House as a vibrant, diverse chamber of Congress that is more responsive to the needs of constituents because members must win election every two years. In the House, members readily engage in impassioned debate and work with each other, even across party lines. 

Pelosi describes the House as more democratic because simple majority rules, and more informal because of the sheer number of members. Pelosi believes the nature of the House accounts for its ability to pass progressive legislation that more effectively meets the needs of the American people. Pelosi mostly presents the Senate as the more formal, conservative chamber of Congress. Rather than majority ruling, 99 senators must generally agree for a bill to pass. Pelosi describes multiple instances in which the necessity to get so many senators on board stymied or slowed down important legislation like TARP and the ACA.

As a former member of the leadership and a representative of one of the most liberal congressional districts in the country, Nancy Pelosi has always supported a progressive, Democratic agenda. She thus represents the Democrats as a party that embodies what responsible, effective, democratic government looks like when progressive principles hold sway. While she has conflict with individual Democratic presidents, she largely assumes that Democrats are all about a politics based on a belief in the responsibility of the government to use its power for the benefit of ordinary people. Pelosi describes Democratic championing of legislation designed to protect the interests of ordinary people against those of big business, big pharmaceutical companies, and big banks. That positive perspective on Democratic power permeates her discussion of the ACA and TARP.

By contrast, Pelosi presents Republicans as a party that looks out for the interests of corporations over that of ordinary American people. By Pelosi’s account, Republicans regularly engage in the politics of demonization and vitriol that drives political violence, including the attack on her husband and threats against legislators. Pelosi traces this dangerous thread in American politics to the Supreme Court decision of Citizens United v. FEC, which allowed political groups to flood politics with large amounts of money that gave them an outsized role in debates around legislation and elections. 

One of Pelosi’s purposes in writing the book is to advance Democratic and progressive political agendas, so her contrasting of Democrats and Republicans is designed to shore up the image of the Democratic Party as the party of the people, and to denigrate the modern Republican Party as being out-of-touch and dangerous.

Secretary of State Colin Powell (1937-2021) served in the George W. Bush administration from 2001-2005. Pelosi describes Powell as a decorated veteran long known for his bravery and integrity. However, she criticizes him for being misled by the Bush administration during the lead-up to the war in Iraq. She generously attributes his error-filled, lie-riddled presentation to the United Nations on weapons of mass destruction in Iraq as an example of what happens when the people supporting a powerful figure do not serve them with integrity.