Pelosi makes clear why she is the boss
Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi has long been a target of Republican ire. They mock her, deride her and do everything they can to goose Democrats into questioning her leadership ability.
These tactics almost worked. But Pelosi is a masterful politician, and when the smoke cleared last week, she emerged wiser, stronger and victorious.
Republicans target her because they fear her. Nothing strikes fear into the hearts of politicians more than the presence of highly effective competition. This is doubly true when that opponent is a woman.
The political poise and mastery that propelled Pelosi — a mother of five — into the highest rungs of American politics were on full display in her White House meeting with President Donald Trump and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.
She approached Trump like a grandmother patiently cajoling an unruly child into eating veggies. She knew how to wind him up, framing any future government shutdown over border funding as his choice alone. She even brought along a hashtag-ready label to drop on him: #TrumpShutdown.
Trump snapped at the bait like an angry trout. Pelosi calmly asserted her co-equal authority as a congressional leader and interrupted when necessary to school him on the basic facts. Considerately, she even paused to allow Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to say a word or two.
Within minutes, Trump was demanding total credit for any future government shutdown, saying he would be “proud” to be held responsible for the economically destructive maneuver.
“I will take the mantle,” he exclaimed. “I will be the one to shut it down — I’m not going to blame you for it.”
Aesop must have written a fable about tactics like these. In any case: mission accomplished.
Pelosi left the meeting by admonishing Trump to pray. He will need all the help he can get as 2019 approaches. Nearly three-dozen of his former friends and associates have been indicted. Key figures within Trumpworld pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with Robert Mueller’s investigation.
We don’t know what the Mueller investigation will reveal. But the fact that nobody seems to want the White House chief of staff job, coupled with whispers of Republican plans to abandon Trump altogether, don’t bode well for the president.
And let’s not forget: In January, Pelosi retakes the gavel as speaker of the House. After trouncing Trump in his own office, she casually returned to the Capitol and locked down a deal to return to the powerful post for up to four years.
With Pelosi back in power, Americans will have a formidable woman at the table as our nation enters one of the most dangerous and unpredictable phases in its history.
This story was originally published December 17, 2018 at 5:47 AM.