Quote:Back in April, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), 83, inserted herself into the debate on whether her longtime Congressional colleague Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), 89, should step down early over her prolonged bout with shingles, which was creating problems for Senate Judiciary Democrats on the issue of confirming Joe Biden’s more radical judicial nominees.

“It’s interesting to me,” Pelosi opined at the time before flashing the woman card. “I don’t know what political agendas are at work that are going after Sen. Feinstein in that way. I’ve never seen them go after a man who was sick in the Senate in that way.”

“She deserves the respect to get well and be back on duty,” Pelosi went on to say.

In that moment, it came off as Pelosi defending a personal friend and trusted political ally at a time when a growing chous of Democrats and talking heads were trying to push Feinstein out the door.

But as it turns out, Pelosi may have had her mind on the bigger prize, chiefly the 2024 Democratic primary for Feinstein’s seat, with her endorsement of Rep. Adam Schiff’s candidacy perhaps playing a central role in her opinions on Feinstein’s retirement plans.

Pelosi’s daughter, Nancy Corinne Prowda, has been acting in a caregiving role for Feinstein in recent weeks and has been seen close by her side during some of her recent appearances on Capitol Hill. For those on the outside looking in, nothing appears to be amiss. After all, the Pelosis and Feinsteins go back decades, and so it would only be natural for one of them to lend a helping hand at this difficult time, right?

Well, not exactly:

The intrigue surrounds the future of Feinstein’s seat. Pelosi has endorsed Rep. Adam Schiff, her longtime protégé and former hand-picked House Intelligence Committee chair, to succeed Feinstein after her sixth and final term ends next year. Schiff (D-Calif.) is a household name in California and already has a $15 million campaign cash advantage over his nearest competitor.

But if Feinstein were to bow to pressure and retire early, Schiff’s advantage could disappear. Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-Calif.) has pledged to appoint a Black woman to serve out her term, and one of Schiff’s declared opponents, Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), would fit the bill.

“If DiFi resigns right now, there is an enormous probability that Barbara Lee gets appointed — thus, it makes it harder for Schiff,” one Pelosi family confidant told Playbook, adding that the relationship between Pelosi, her daughter and the senator is “being kept under wraps and very, very closely held.”

“It’s very tricky, and political, because they want her to stay” in the Senate, said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity to speak candidly about a sensitive situation. “The political thinking is that if DiFi stays as long as possible, it helps Schiff as well.”

There’s only one conclusion to draw here, and that’s that Pelosi has become an “accomplice” to keeping Feinstein in the Senate at all costs:

Some suggested that the outrage over a “journalist” calling for Feinstein staffers to resign in disgrace after her return looks “dumber every day,” with this report seemingly proving the point that they, too, were in on some plot to keep Feinstein in place so they could benefit on down the road:

It’s hard to know what the truth is here, but what is obvious is that there are a lot of Democrats playing a lot of grotesque and exploitative political games with a frail woman whose health is deteriorating but who either can’t or won’t walk away from her seat when it’s clear that’s what she should do – not for anyone else, but for herself and her well-being.

Just the fact that she couldn’t even remember being absent from the Senate for two months should show everyone where we are with this.

The moral of the story here? Don’t trust Democrats with anything, not your wallet, not your Senate seat, and especially not your grandma.