What was supposed to be a polished conversation between Nancy Pelosi and economist Paul Krugman at CUNY turned into something raw, unscripted, and deeply uncomfortable. One heckler, voice trembling with rage, condemned her to “the depths of hell” for her role in the Iraq War, accusing her of pushing a nation into bloodshed on a lie. He demanded to know why she never admitted there were no weapons of mass destruction, why she helped pave the way for invasions that left Afghans impoverished and dying.

Each interruption cut deeper, transforming the event into a confrontation with the ghosts of American foreign policy. When Nord Stream was hurled into the accusations—millions of Germans, he claimed, left without energy—the room felt less like a lecture hall and more like a courtroom. Pelosi’s composed exterior never fully cracked, but the message from the hecklers was unmistakable: some Americans are done being quiet while the powerful rewrite history.