Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s new book about major events of her two decades as House speaker or Democratic leader is titled “The Art of Power” — an unintended, she insisted to me, echo of Donald Trump’s “The Art of the Deal.” She writes of the actual, consequential deals she helped deliver, like the Affordable Care Act and rescue packages after the global financial crash, and of the deals that Trump failed to make on infrastructure and so much more.

And Pelosi also tells of her amazement that, of the four presidents she served alongside as House leader, people only want to know about Trump, or “What’s-his-name,” as she calls him.

That should be a small wonder, however, given Trump’s outsized impact and ongoing threat, and her famed forte: standing up to him like no one else. Pelosi provides some behind-the-curtain stuff, including about Trump’s “whiny” call to her in 2019 begging her not to impeach him over his “perfect” call to Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky, and how she corrected him when he opened his first White House meeting with congressional leaders by lying, “You know I won the popular vote.”

“I’ve had a lot of conversations with this man,” she writes, “and at the end of nearly all of them, I think, Either you are stupid, or you think that the rest of us are.”

Yet as Pelosi hit the book-promotion circuit this week, there’s been a shift: Now she is asked mostly about another president: Joe Biden. And specifically, about her latest power play, one too recent to be included in the book: Her role in nudging the struggling Biden, her (former?) friend of four decades, to end his bid for reelection.

Pelosi, ever cagey, won’t go there, though she leaves much to read between her carefully chosen lines.

Her book rollout, with TV appearances and interviews, and nondisclosure agreements to control it all, is competing for attention with the new Harris-Walz Democratic presidential ticket she greatly helped into being.

“Look at the response they are getting!” she exclaimed to me and several other journalists at a roundtable on Wednesday. But she resists any credit for the excitement: “At some point I will come to … peace with my own role in this.”

Though “hundreds” of panicky Democrats called her after Biden’s calamitous debate with Trump, she said she spoke to few and told them to direct their concerns to the president’s circle. “I didn’t make one call,” to build outside pressure on Biden, she said, and repeated for emphasis. Yet she was the obvious emissary to the president himself, given their relationship, similar age — at 82 in 2022, she’d stepped down as Democratic leader — and, yes, her artful exercise of power.

As Biden stood fast, some of Pelosi’s closest allies, including California Reps. Adam B. Schiff and Zoe Lofgren, urged him to retire. “I had nothing to do with that,” she insisted on CNN. And she adamantly denies reports that on a call with Biden she demanded that he put a top advisor on the phone when the president said his staff had more encouraging polling data.

Pelosi does acknowledge she spoke to Biden: “I was really asking for a better campaign. We did not have a campaign that was on a path to victory.”

She wouldn’t take Biden’s public no for his final decision, she told us.

Referring to Trump, and slamming the table with each word, she added: “My goal in life was that that man would never step foot in the White House again.” Yet Democrats seemed to be throwing “rose petals” in his path, and endangering their other down-ballot candidates as well. Then what of Biden’s legacy, and hers?

Since Biden quit the race July 21, Pelosi says she hasn’t spoken with him. Perhaps to foster a rapprochement, she extols him in each interview. He’s “a Mount Rushmore kind of president,” she said on “CBS Sunday Morning.”

Trump, who in 2020 actually tweeted a photo of himself on Mount Rushmore, of course gets no such elevation in Pelosi’s book.

Despite Biden’s debate performance, Pelosi says she’s seen no mental decline in him. Trump is another case, literally. Pelosi writes of attending a memorial service for an eminent psychiatrist and being a magnet for the many doctors there, expressing concern to her for Trump’s mental health. His family and staff “should have staged an intervention,” she writes.

“I knew Donald Trump’s mental imbalance. I had seen it up close. His denial and then delays when the Covid pandemic struck, his penchant for repeatedly stomping out of meetings, his foul mouth, his pounding on tables, his temper tantrums, his disrespect for our nation’s patriots, and his total separation from reality and actual events. His repeated, ridiculous insistence that he was the greatest of all time.”

Take it from a true GOAT, Trump is not one.

Trump did succeed in keeping Pelosi in Congress. She’d planned to retire after 2016, once Hillary Clinton was elected. When that didn’t happen, Pelosi stayed mainly to prevent Trump from repealing Obamacare. Arizona Sen. John McCain confided to her that he’d oppose repeal, so she wasn’t surprised, as Mitch McConnell and so many Republicans were, when McCain’s thumbs-down doomed the effort. “Every day, I wish he were still here,” Pelosi writes.

She is explicit that her book isn’t a memoir. Pelosi focuses at length on four tortuous debates: Iraq and Afghanistan; China’s trade and human abuses; the financial crisis and recovery efforts; and Obamacare. Bookending those chapters are accounts of the near-fatal bludgeoning of her husband, Paul, in 2022 and the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol. In both, the pro-Trump attackers yelled “Where’s Nancy? Where’s Nancy?”

She’s still here, running for a 20th term representing San Francisco. And she might write another book, she suggested. It might even deal with what might have been among the most artful and consequential uses of her power, the one of past weeks.

@jackiekcalmes

Several progressive women’s groups were silent when asked by Fox News Digital about how second gentleman Doug Emhoff’s affair when he was married to his ex-wife could affect his image as a leader championing their cause.

Fox News Digital sent an inquiry for comment to EMILYs List, the League of Women Voters, the Progressive Women’s Alliance of West Michigan, the National Organization for Women, the National Women’s Political Caucus, the Feminist Majority Foundation, the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, the Women’s Liberation Front and the International Center for Research on Women. None of the groups returned a request for comment about whether Emhoff should face heightened scrutiny as potentially the next first gentleman by press deadline.

13 DAYS: KAMALA HARRIS HAS NOT HELD A PRESS CONFERENCE SINCE EMERGING AS PRESUMPTIVE DEMOCRATIC NOMINEE

As the Democratic Party’s standard-bearer husband, Emhoff has been involved in a number of left-wing causes and has encouraged men to advocate for abortion in the aftermath of the summer 2022 decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. Earlier this year, he teamed up with Men4Choice to tour Florida, Arizona and North Carolina to campaign for abortion rights. Meanwhile, his wife was making press stops at abortion clinics.

“This is an issue of fairness to women. Women are dying,” Emhoff said in an NBC interview in May. “It’s affecting man’s ability to plan their lives. And it’s also an issue of what’s next, what other freedoms are at risk. And these freedoms are affecting all Americans, not just women.”

Emhoff, Vice President Harris’ husband, admitted to having an affair with a nanny shortly after the Daily Mail published a report last week that the second gentleman had an affair with his daughter’s nanny and got her pregnant. The nanny’s close friend told the outlet that she did not keep the baby but did not elaborate further.

“During my first marriage, Kerstin and I went through some tough times on account of my actions. I took responsibility, and in the years since, we worked through things as a family and have come out stronger on the other side,” Emhoff told CNN last week of the affair.

KAMALA HARRIS’ HUSBAND DOUG EMHOFF ADMITS TO EXTRAMARITAL AFFAIR THAT LED TO BREAKUP OF FIRST MARRIAGE

Vice President Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff, head toward Air Force Two at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on Aug. 6, 2024. (Brendan Smialowski/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)

Emhoff and his first wife were married from 1992 to 2008 and share two adult children. Harris married Emhoff in 2014 and helped co-parent his children, who call their stepmother “Mommala.”

The divorce cited “irreconcilable differences” as the motivation behind parting ways, the New York Post reported. 

Harris knew about the affair before they married, and the Biden 2020 campaign knew about it when it was vetting her for Biden’s vice presidential pick, CNN reported. 

KAMALA HARRIS’ HUSBAND DOUG EMHOFF RESPONDS TO TRUMP’S ATTACKS ON HER: ‘THAT’S ALL HE’S GOT?’

Second gentleman Doug Emhoff (Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images/File)

Kerstin Emhoff defended her ex in a statement to the Washington Post on Saturday. 

“Doug and I decided to end our marriage for a variety of reasons, many years ago,” she wrote. “He is a great father to our kids, continues to be a great friend to me and I am really proud of the warm and supportive blended family Doug, Kamala, and I have built together.”

Despite the affair and divorce, Kerstin Emhoff has posted supportive messages about her ex-husband’s second wife and has endorsed Harris on social media.

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

Fox News Digital’s Emma Colton contributed to this report.

With television cameras rolling and traffic on a busy San Fernando Valley freeway humming in the background, Gov. Gavin Newsom threatened on Thursday to take away state funding from counties that don’t show improvement on homelessness.

“If we don’t see demonstrable results, I’ll start to redirect money,” Newsom said.

“This is a sincerely held belief that we need local government to step up. This is a crisis. Act like it.”

Unbridled frustration from the Democratic governor over the lack of progress on his top issue — homelessness — isn’t new, nor is warning about stripping money from reluctant counties. As he nears the halfway point of his second and final term in office, Newsom is using his soapbox as governor to increase public pressure and lay blame on local leaders for California’s most glaring humanitarian crisis.

Los Angeles County, in particular, has become a frequent target of Newsom’s ire. The governor again criticized the county on Thursday for delaying implementation of a law that expands the criteria for people to be detained against their will.

His trip to Pacoima came after his call to remove homeless encampments also appeared to fall on mostly deaf ears last month in Los Angeles, where elected officials criticized the order, or said it changed nothing in their policy approach. The governor’s executive order requires his administration to remove encampments on state property and urged cities and counties to do the same.

Mayor Karen Bass said “strategies that just move people along from one neighborhood to the next or give citations instead of housing do not work.” Los Angeles County Supervisor Lindsay Horvath said the county is already doing “urgent and humane encampment resolution.”

Two weeks later, Newsom arrived in a T-shirt, aviator sunglasses and a baseball cap with a California Department of Transportation crew to clean up encampments near an entrance to the 5 Freeway in Pacoima. The governor said he signed the executive order with “intention.”

“Folks may choose not to do anything differently,” Newsom said Thursday. “That’s a decision that could be made. Here’s what I get to decide. … If that’s the result, I’m going to redirect the money. It’s not complicated and I’m going to send it to people that actually want to get the job done.”

The governor and experts agree that the homelessness crisis is decades in the making, but opinions differ over whether Newsom’s more conservative policy approach and finger-pointing will help fix the issue. A dearth of affordable housing, low wages and the high cost of living are at the crux of a problem that has been exacerbated by mental health challenges and drug abuse.

“If this is not the most important issue, you’re not paying attention,” the governor said of homelessness.

(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

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The Newsom administration has spent more than $24 billion to clean up encampments, move Californians off the streets and sidewalks, and convert hotels and motels into temporary shelters, among dozens of other homelessness initiatives. The state has increased spending flexibility for local governments and given cities and counties more authority to force Californians into treatment under programs such as CARE Court and the expansion of conservatorships.

Proposition 1, Newsom’s ballot measure that voters narrowly approved in March, is expected to deliver more than $6 billion for 10,000 treatment and housing beds and expand care for drug addiction.

But Newsom’s policy approach to encampments and forced care have become points of contention between the governor and advocates for the unhoused, aligning him more with conservatives than progressives in his own party. The governor argues that he’s done his job and given cities and counties more funding, tools and authority to address the problem as they requested.

“There’s no more excuses,” Newsom said. “You’ve got the money. You’ve got the flexibility. You’ve got the green light. You’ve got the support from the state and the public is demanding it of you, and if this is not the most important issue, you’re not paying attention. This is the biggest scar on the reputation of the state of California.”

Los Angeles County released a statement defending its response to the homelessness crisis, describing it as a massive and complex undertaking:

“New bed capacity needs to be built to accommodate a population of patients who will require locked facilities when held for treatment involuntarily. Without first taking those steps, the work of moving people off the streets for their own health and safety would fail. This does not mean L.A. County is standing still. Our Pathway Home encampment resolution program already has moved hundreds of people inside as we have also extensively supported the City of L.A.’s Inside Safe program that has sheltered thousands of others.”

In June, Newsom praised a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that allowed Grants Pass, Ore. to enforce a law that banned camping in public places despite the city not having enough shelter to offer the people living in encampments.

Academics and homeless advocates cast Newsom’s encampment order, which followed the ruling, as a reaction to political pressure that could make the problem worse instead of offering a solution to help California’s most vulnerable residents.

“People can’t disappear themselves,” said Margot Kushel, a professor of medicine and the director of the Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative at UC San Francisco. “There is no easy way out of this. I have deep compassion for everybody’s frustration. I’m frustrated. I want this problem to be over. I understand this is unacceptable, but I think when you’re in a hole, you need to stop digging.”

Kushel and others described California’s fundamental problem as the shortage of affordable housing. The Newsom administration has spent a lot of funding on the problem of homelessness, Kushel said, but the state still isn’t building enough housing as the need continues to grow.

A state audit also found that California has failed to monitor the effectiveness of its costly homelessness programs, which raised questions about whether Newsom’s efforts are worth the price tag as the state grapples with a budget deficit. The governor has pushed for more accountability around how local governments use state dollars.

The state budget enacted in July broadens the responsibilities of a state Housing Accountability Unit to include oversight of state homelessness grants to cities and counties and adds more staff positions for the work. A separate bill, Assembly Bill 3093, seeks to require local governments to plan to build housing for all income levels, including homeless populations.

San José Mayor Matt Mahan applauded Newsom for focusing on improving accountability.

State transportation crews take part in the cleanup.

(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

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Mahan said the development of more affordable housing is critically important, but it takes too long and costs too much to immediately address the problem. San José has focused on using state and federal funding to offer interim and transitional housing communities to provide “a ladder off the streets.”

Last month, Newsom informed San Diego County of the state’s intent to reclaim a $10-million grant to build 150 tiny units for lack of action and redirect the funds to San José.

Mahan said he backs the idea of a statewide framework with set targets and specific goals for local governments to build shelter and treatment for its homeless residents.

“I think it will get us out of the fantasy land of thinking that we can prioritize solutions that will work if we just happen to have another $100 billion,” Mahan said.

Times staff writer Rebecca Ellis contributed to this report.