A Trump victory “ain’t gonna happen” says Nancy Pelosi

Rep. Nancy Pelosi meets with the Chronicle editorial board in San Francisco, Calif. on Friday, Oct. 28, 2016. Rep. Nancy Pelosi meets with the Chronicle editorial board in San Francisco, Calif. on Friday, Oct. 28, 2016. Photo: Paul Chinn, The Chronicle Buy photo Photo: Paul Chinn, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close A Trump victory “ain’t gonna happen” says Nancy Pelosi 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi on Friday predicted continued gridlock in Washington if Hillary Clinton is elected president, saying “the Republicans have set the table for obstruction” by promising years of investigations that could lead to a government shutdown and even impeachment proceedings.

Pelosi told The Chronicle editorial board that “I wouldn’t even be surprised if they tried to take it to impeachment, but they can’t because everything they’re talking about is something that happened when she wasn’t president.”

She was referring to statements by Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, chairman of the House Oversight Committee, who said this week that he had two years’ worth of material lined up for an investigation of Clinton’s tenure as secretary of state.

Pelosi compared the situation to how Republicans promised to “check” then-President Bill Clinton in the days leading up to his 1996 re-election when it appeared that GOP nominee Bob Dole was headed for defeat — much like most polls say Donald Trump is now.

But Pelosi sees one way to avoid the gridlock.

“Hopefully,” Pelosi said, “Hillary’s victory will be of such size that that might be a check on (the GOP’s) exuberance to have years of investigation.”

First Clinton has to win, and her campaign faced a speed bump Friday as FBI Director James Comey told congressional leaders that the agency was examining newly found emails that could pertain to its already concluded investigation of her mishandling classified information by using a private email server.

Pelosi, however, said “I don’t think it’s going to make any difference in the election.”

Pelosi has no doubt that GOP nominee Trump will fail to win the presidency. “No way, ain’t gonna happen,” is how she put it.

Surprisingly, the usually optimistic Pelosi was less definitive about Democrats winning the 30 seats required to regain the majority of the House of Representatives.

“They’re OK,” Pelosi said of the chances of a Democratic takeover. She hasn’t budged from her year-old prediction that Democrats would win 20 seats — possibly more, depending on voter turnout and the size of Clinton’s victory.

“I’ve never seen a political situation where it’s so hard to handicap, because you just don’t know who will turn out and where,” Pelosi said.

With election day so close, the campaign and its fallout was the main topic. But the San Francisco Democrat weighed in on other topics, including the Affordable Care Act, which has been in the news recently because of premium spikes for some participants in the open exchanges.

On the affordability of Obamacare: Pelosi, who ushered in the Obama administration’s signature legislative achievement, defended its viability despite 2017 premium increases in the exchanges that average 25 percent.

Asked whether it could still be called “affordable,” Pelosi said, “Of course it’s affordable.”

But Trump has gained traction criticizing the law. Major health insurers, including Aetna and UnitedHealth Group, have pulled back their plan offerings, and rates in some states have skyrocketed by 50 percent or more.

Pelosi countered that current premium increases remain historically low, and would have been even higher without the federal health law. She noted that most people who buy their coverage through the state or federal exchanges receive a subsidy to help them pay for their coverage, which helps offset the premiums increases.

Pelosi acknowledged the program could be improved and suffered from its poor rollout in 2013.

“It has a bad rap,” she said.

Bellwethers on Democrats winning the House: Watch the results from these East Coast states: Maine, New Hampshire, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Florida and Virginia. If the Democrats pick up 10 seats from those states, Pelosi said, it’s a good sign they have a shot at taking the House.

On her top priority should Democrats win the House: An infrastructure bill that would provide a lot of jobs. That would speak to Trump supporters and others still feeling anxious after the economic meltdown of 2008.

“And they have anxiety about the future,” Pelosi said. Helping get people jobs would be a way to address the anxiety and anger they feel.

On Paul Ryan and the possibility of Republicans shutting down government: Pelosi used herself as an example of how loyalty works in Congress. She said because she helped Democrats win the House in 2006, they stuck by her when they lost it in 2010 “because I was the one who brought them to the prom.”

House Republicans “don’t really owe (Speaker) Paul Ryan anything,” she said of the current speaker, who ascended to the position after John Boehner resigned. Ryan doesn’t have much political leverage with the 40 or so more-conservative Tea Party House Republicans, who rarely compromise.

Ryan “is a lovely person, as was John Boehner. I got along personally with both of them. But they can’t deliver their caucus,” Pelosi said. “So what I’m concerned about going forward is: Are they going to shut down government?”

On Trump: “It’s a stunning thing to watch a person with such total lack of knowledge of the subjects he’s talking about,” Pelosi said. “It’s like, ‘Where do you get this confidence that you’re the empirical imperative?’ You say it, therefore it must be true. But it has no basis in fact. It’s almost dangerous.”

On pining for “lovely” Republicans of years past: Pelosi sprinkled nostalgic compliments of Republicans throughout the interview. Dole, she said, is “a beautiful, lovely, patriotic statesman, great American. I love Bob Dole.” Said she respects past GOP presidential nominees Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Mitt Romney and former President George W. Bush.

Pelosi said she keeps telling the Bush family and Dole to “take back your party.” “This isn’t who you are. This is the Grand Ol’ Party that did so much for our country. We need a strong Republican Party. We don’t need a party that is unstable and racist — or bigoted is more the word.”

On homelessness and housing: Pelosi said solving homelessness can’t just be about creating more emergency housing — it has to include building more housing stock of all kinds.

“San Francisco is almost obscene in the cost of housing,” said Pelosi, who the newspaper Roll Call last year said was the 15th wealthiest member of Congress, with a minimum net worth of $29.35 million. “My children said to me, ‘Mom, I can’t afford to live and have a family in San Francisco.’”

She called for more public-private partnerships as “this is a very big deal in the whole country. And it’s not going to be solved just by appropriating dollars” from Washington.

Joe Garofoli and Victoria Colliver are Chronicle staff writers. Email: jgarofoli@sfchronicle.com, vcolliver@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @joegarofoli, @vcolliver