The first few months of 2020 have been a public-relations nightmare for House speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate minority chairman Chuck Schumer, the top ranking Democrats in Congress.

Pelosi’s decision-making was disastrous through the partisan impeachment of President Donald Trump, beginning with her decisions to rush the process through the House, and then sitting on the articles for 33 days before sending them to the Senate. A day before the Senate acquitted the president of the two sham charges sent by the House, Trump delivered his State of the Union speech, which was a highlight for the president and a lowlight for Pelosi.

It was evident from the outset that the House speaker was out to sabotage one of America’s great traditions in hopes of making the president look bad. Going into the chambers on Capitol Hill, she attempted to disrespect Trump by eliminating the traditional introduction, whereby the House speaker announces that it is a “high privilege and distinct honor” to present the president before the joint session of Congress.

Seated behind the presidential podium with the vice president, Pelosi reacted to the speech like a spoiled child with her facial expressions and mumbling. She remained seated while others in the room celebrated American accomplishments and honored a number of heroic Americans invited to the address. After Trump ended one of the best speeches of his presidency, Pelosi reacted by ripping apart her copy in front of the cameras.

When asked during her exit why she did it, Pelosi said she had destroyed the speech “because it was the courteous thing to do considering the alternatives.”

Pelosi’s tantrum brought an immediate response from conservatives. Nikki Haley, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, tweeted that she was disappointed to see Pelosi rip up the speech that mentioned lives we’ve lost and heroes we celebrated and that it was unbecoming of someone at her level in office.

The Democrats’ strategy to embarrass the president by dragging the country through a lame impeachment process and then seeing Pelosi’s childish antics in front of the cameras backfired big time. Through it all, Trump’s approval ratings went up, reaching their highest levels since he took office.

Last week, it was Senate minority chairman Chuck Schumer’s turn to embarrass himself and the party when Supreme Court justices began debating a high-profile abortion case concerning a Louisiana law.

Schumer joined a group of pro-abortion activists in a rally outside the building. One of the speakers was Rashida Tlaib, the radical Trump-hating congresswoman from Michigan, who delivered a bizarre and vulgar rant.

Schumer also launched into a tirade, threatening two of the court’s conservative justices, Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch.

“I want to tell you, Gorsuch. I want to tell you, Kavanaugh,” Schumer shouted. “You have released the whirlwind, and you will pay the price. You will not know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions.”

This brought an immediate and rare rebuke from Chief Justice John Roberts.

“Justices know that criticism comes with the territory, but threatening statements of this sort from the highest levels of government are not only inappropriate, they are dangerous,” Roberts said. “All members of the court will continue to do their job, without fear or favor, from whatever quarter.”

Abortion continues to be a volatile issue in this nation. Pro-life forces on the right are passionate about the 61 million babies who have been killed since the Roe v. Wade decision in 1973. Many on the left, meanwhile, incited by radicals like Tlaib, now favor the death of babies who are fully viable when they survive a late-term abortion. In a recent vote, 41 Democratic senators voted against the “Born Alive Act,” which “would have required doctors to provide standard medical care to newborn infants who survive abortion procedures.”

It seems that every move made by Schumer and Pelosi is done to appease radicals on the far left like Tlaib and her fellow “squad” members — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts. The kind of lynch mob mentality we saw on the steps of the Supreme Court last week not only plays to that radical base, but it fuels chaos among Democrats.

Justice Roberts is right. Schumer’s threatening rhetoric against the judicial branch is dangerous for the country.

By Jim Zbick | tneditor@tnonline.com