Lost in the wilderness of the Trump era, Democrats looked long and hard for a champion: Robert Mueller, the media, even Michael Avenatti. But when the party retook the House in November and Nancy Pelosi began her historic second term as speaker, no one doubted the search was over. She’d been a GOP target and, some centrists thought, an electoral liability given her San Francisco roots. But now no one doubted that she was the indispensable Democrat, cheerfully jousting with AOC and “the Squad,” mediating the hoary conflict between the party’s left and its center (she describes herself as “a weaver,” which is a nice word for how she sometimes has to operate), winning with substance (her party’s focus on health care) and imagery (the famous Max Mara red coat, the donning of the sunglasses after her triumphant border wall meeting with Trump and Senator Chuck Schumer), and holding fire on impeachment until precisely the right moment. The Speaker talks to Abigail Tracy about the road to impeachment, how the Democrats won in 2018, why Trump is unique among presidents she’s known, and the work to be done after Trump is gone.

Tell me about the moment you reached the decision to go down the impeachment path.

I take a lot of guidance from the vision of our founders, and our founders fought very hard for our democracy, for our country, for our Constitution. In the dark days of revolution, Thomas Paine said, “The times have found us.” We believe that the times have found us to keep the republic from all enemies, foreign and domestic. And that would be those who say things like, “Article II says I can do whatever I want.” That’s not a republic, that’s a monarchy. That’s not what we have.

July 24, 1:07 p.m.

Pelosi with security detail and aides on her way to drop by the New Democrat Coalition lunch. Photograph by Annie Leibovitz.

Do you think President Trump understands why people think what he said in his call with the Ukrainian president was wrong?

I don’t know what he understands. But if he understands that Article II lets him do whatever he wants, then it’s a big misunderstanding.

How did your experience as a legislator during the Bill Clinton impeachment shape your view?

The Clinton impeachment was totally, totally wrong for our country. The president, of course, was personally wrong to do what he did. But that’s not an impeachable offense. I was very concerned at the time—because I do take impeachment seriously—that the Republicans were using it very frivolously and were disrespectful to the Constitution.