Nancy Pelosi Is Retiring After 40 Years in the House — Why Do So Many People Seem to Hate Her?

During 40 years in the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi has broken barriers and proven herself to be a savvy political operator. As the first female Speaker of the House, she leaves a remarkable legacy behind her, although it's not one that is destined to be universally admired.

In fact, there are plenty of people both in Washington, D.C. and around the country who would confess to hating the former Speaker of the House. Here's what we know about why Pelosi has become such a divisive figure.

That's not a question that has a single answer. Depending on who you are, you might hate Nancy Pelosi for a couple of different reasons. For some Conservatives, Pelosi represents the antithesis of what they want for this country. And, as much as they might be reluctant to admit it, she was also at times a uniquely effective Speaker, which is why she was able to pass legislation that Conservatives don't agree with.

So there's an entire group of people who hate Pelosi simply because she's a Democrat and passed Democratic policies. There's another group of people who don't like Nancy Pelosi for reasons that have to do with her identity. She was one of the most powerful women in the world, and some people just don't think women should have or seek that kind of power (your basic misogynists).

There are also some people who don't like Pelosi because she's viewed as a coastal elite. She's wealthy, she is from San Francisco, and she has never shied away from those aspects of her identity. For those people, it's Pelosi's cultural identity that's the biggest problem.

There are also plenty of people within Pelosi's own party who might not hate her (although some do), but who feel that she was wrong on one policy or another.

Typically, these people are on the left wing of the party and were frustrated by Pelosi's leadership because they feel she did not push the party in that direction enough. There are also those who think that, during her time as the House Speaker that coincided with the Trump presidency, she was too reticent to try to impeach and remove him from office, an effort which ultimately failed not once but twice.

It's worth mentioning, too, that there are some people who believe things about Nancy Pelosi that have no basis in fact. Conspiracy theories have been swirling around the Speaker for decades, and her husband was attacked and beaten with a hammer by a man who appeared to be looking for her.

Because of her long and very public career, Pelosi has made her fair share of enemies both across party lines and within her own party. In some ways, that's just the nature of politics, a business that can be particularly difficult for women. Pelosi, one of the most successful women in American political history, was bound to get a few haters along the way.