appConfigEntityId

bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

hooksArticlePageAdvertisementConfigArticle

liveArticle

appConfig

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

sectionsV2

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

json

POLITICO

This story is published in a content partnership with POLITICO. It was originally reported by John Bresnahan and Burgess Everett on politico.com on May 22, 2019.
Something about Nancy Pelosi just gets under Donald Trump's skin.
On Wednesday, for the third time in barely six months, a meeting between Trump, the speaker and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer blew up in a spectacular fashion.
And in each case, Trump handed Pelosi a huge gift, a priceless moment that helped unify the Democratic Caucus behind her at a crucial time.
“She’s smarter than him, and she’s tougher than him, and I think that bothers him,” said Democrat lawmaker Dan Kildee, a Pelosi ally.
“It's hard to get inside that head of his and figure out what drives him, other than an oversized ego and an undersized sense of ethics.”
Trump doesn’t have a condescending nickname for Pelosi as he does for other Democrats. He even appears to have a grudging respect for the first woman speaker and treats her like a peer who commands her chamber with a firm hand.
Trump knows she can deliver on votes, and he knows she is willing to call any bluff at any time.


The latest episode of “Trump vs. Pelosi” featured Trump storming out of a planned White House meeting with Pelosi, Schumer and other top Democrats over a proposed US$2 trillion infrastructure package.
It was just the type of explosion that allows Democrats to portray the president as unreliable, tempestuous and impossible to negotiate with.
And Trump's refusal to cut any deals with Democrats while they engage in oversight – something every president has to live with – backs up what Democrats have said since the 2016 campaign: Trump is only out for Trump, not the American public.
“Guess what? He behaves like a child. This is what we have in the White House now,” said Democrat Senator Chris Murphy, who served under Pelosi in the House.
Nancy Pelosi reclaims the US Speaker’s chair, under ‘no illusions’ in the age of Trump
“I’m used to it. I’m not expecting a grown-up any longer. I’m not expecting him to grow into the role.”
And for Pelosi, the timing is perfect. As the drumbeat for impeachment grows within her caucus, she can argue that what they’re doing is already working.
Trump clearly doesn’t know how to respond to the barrage of Democratic investigations; they’re winning in the courts and he’s throwing fits.
So why bother with impeachment, especially when Democrats know that a Republican-run Senate isn’t going to remove him from office?
Meanwhile, the Trump-Pelosi confrontations are getting to be recurring spectacles, and even Republicans know it hurts the president's image.

“It's a disaster,” said a senior Republican who asked not to be named.
“It plays right into her hands.”
Last December, Trump clashed with Schumer and Pelosi over his border wall in front of the TV cameras.
Then during talks to end the ensuing government shutdown in January, Trump slammed his hand on the table and walked out when Pelosi refused to yield on funding for the wall.
“It seems like anytime she strikes a nerve … he freaks out,” said Democrat lawmaker Debbie Wasserman Schultz.
“I think he realises the walls are closing in on him.”
OPINION: What the Trump-Pelosi dynamic reveals about men and their confusion amid changing gender roles
Wednesday’s blow-up also has very real implications for the president's near-term agenda.
Democrats and Republicans were nearing a two-year budget deal with the White House; Pelosi and Schumer had been in general agreement with Trump on the need to do infrastructure; and the president was beginning an urgent campaign to get his new trade agreement through Congress.
All these efforts could be stalled if Trump follows through on his threat to refuse any deal-making – which would only damage the president's own re-election campaign.
Still, the collapse of yet another infrastructure week wasn’t a complete surprise.
It was clear by Tuesday night that Trump was having second thoughts about the gathering, which grew out of a surprisingly cordial White House meeting several weeks ago in which the president rebuffed some of his own advisers to set a massive, US$2 trillion goal with Democrats.
Trump warned in a letter that night that he would only do an infrastructure deal if Congress first passed the new North American trade agreement he negotiated with Mexico and Canada.
Pelosi and other Democrats have serious concerns about the USMCA, so they were already wary about a potential Trump ambush as they headed to the White House on Wednesday.
Republicans, who were excluded from the infrastructure talks, have been playing down Trump and Democratic leaders’ bipartisan aspirations for weeks.
“Meetings that don’t include the leadership of both parties are unlikely to go anywhere but take a negative turn,” said Republican Senator Roy Blunt.
Nancy Pelosi privately disses Donald Trump’s ‘manhood’ after White House meeting
But what actually set Trump off Wednesday was a comment from Pelosi earlier in the day. Coming out of a closed-door session with fellow Democrats where she argued against beginning an impeachment inquiry against Trump, Pelosi said the president “is engaged in a cover-up” of improper behaviour.
That was all the president needed to torpedo the Cabinet Room session.
An angry Trump accused Pelosi of saying “horrible, horrible things” and being “disrespectful”, then stormed out of the room for a Rose Garden press conference.
“It is the nature of this president’s temperament to blow up with frequency. And perhaps Nancy and Chuck are catalysts of that from time to time,” said Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin, who was present for Wednesday's drama.
After Trump said he wouldn't discuss infrastructure or any other legislative priorities until the investigations ended, the meeting ended with a pointed exchange between Pelosi and White House counsellor Kellyanne Conway, according to two people familiar with the meeting.
Conway asked the speaker to respond to Trump, who had already left the room.
“I’m responding to the president, not staff,” Pelosi said.
Conway countered sarcastically: “That’s really pro-woman of you.”
Out in the Rose Garden, Trump railed against special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, then took a shot at Pelosi.
“This whole thing was a take-down attempt of the president of the United States,” Trump declared.
“I don't do cover-ups,” Trump added.
Pelosi punched back when she returned to Capitol Hill, saying she prays for Trump and the entire country.
“For some reason, maybe it was lack of confidence on his part that he couldn’t match the greatness of the challenge we have … he just took a pass,” Pelosi said at a press conference.
Trump’s Republican allies, meanwhile, quickly fell in line behind the president, at least in public, in the latest sign that Pelosi’s probes have zero support on the other side of the Capitol.
“Ridiculous. To accuse the president of the United States of a cover-up is absolutely inappropriate,” said Republican Senator David Perdue.
“The president’s just tired of getting verbally assaulted every day. … To have her continue that kind of slander is probably hard to take,” said Republican Senator John Cornyn.
Pelosi, though, knows that Trump can rail against her on TV and Twitter, but he still needs her to do anything important, including keeping the federal government open or raising the nation’s debt limit.
On Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had urged a speedy conclusion to budget negotiations, perhaps in an acknowledgement of how critical it was to seize the bipartisan moment given the up-and-down nature of Trump’s relationship with Democrats.
Now some on Capitol Hill worry that the president will disengage from spending negotiations, too, since House Democrats have no intention of breaking off their investigations.
“Whether he likes it or not, sequestration is coming roaring back. We have a debt ceiling we’ve got to raise. And we have a budget deal we’ve got to reach. Or we face a real risk,” said Democrat Senator Chris Coons.
“Robust congressional oversight is part of the structure and history of our country. And he’s going to have to answer some questions.”
Sarah Ferris contributed to this report.
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/05/22/pelosi-trump-meeting-1340123


China-EU investment deal should stay in ‘deep freezer’, outgoing trade chief warns

Trump slams energy deal between California and Britain, calls Governor Newsom a ‘loser’

Free trade or fortress Europe? The battle for the soul of the EU economy

Trump could decide next year to withdraw from USMCA, says US trade representative

Why Nancy Pelosi is so good at infuriating Donald Trump

The confrontations between President Donald Trump and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi are getting to be recurring spectacles. Photo: AFP

President Donald Trump and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi of Calif., attend the 38th Annual National Peace Officers' Memorial Service at the U.S. Capitol, Wednesday, May 15, 2019, in Washington. Pelosi said Wednesday that the U.S. must avoid war with Iran and she warned the White House has “no business” moving toward a Middle East confrontation without approval from Congress. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

The confrontations between President Donald Trump and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi are getting to be recurring spectacles. Photo: EPA

Nancy Pelosi privately disses Donald Trump’s ‘manhood’ after White House meeting

President Donald Trump debates with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., left, and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., right, as Vice President Mike Pence listens during a meeting in the Oval Office of White House on Dec. 11, 2018 in Washington, D.C. MUST CREDIT: Washington Post photo by Jabin Botsford

‘It’s like a manhood thing with him – as if manhood can be associated with him,’ House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said in a private meeting with House Democrats. Photo: Abaca Press

Battle-tested Democrat Nancy Pelosi returns to power in US House, a familiar role with new adversary Donald Trump

On Wednesday, Day 12 of the partial government shutdown, House Democratic Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, likely to become speaker of the House this week, sits with staffers in her newly painted and furnished Speaker's Office on Capitol Hill. MUST CREDIT: Washington Post photo by Melina Mara.

REMOVES REFERENCE TO COLOR - This combination photo shows House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi wearing a Max Mara coat outside of the West Wing at the White House in Washington following a meeting with President Donald Trump about funding the border wall between the U.S. and Mexico. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Nancy Pelosi and US President Donald Trump argue during a meeting at the White House. Photo: AFP

As Trump marked 100 days in office, Nancy Pelosi let this one slip: 'I never thought I'd pray for the day' when George W. Bush was president again

George W. Bush jokingly makes a face as he tries to open a locked door as he leaves a press conference in Beijing in 2005. File photo: AP

US President George W. Bush (L) greets Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-CA, as he arrives to deliver his annual State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress at the US Capitol in Washington 23 January 2007. AFP PHOTO/Larry Downing/Pool

U.S. President George W. Bush (R) reacts as he listens to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) during the annual Radio and Television Correspondents Association dinner at a hotel in Washington March 28, 2007. REUTERS/Jason Reed (UNITED STATES)

US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says Donald Trump ‘just not worth’ impeaching, too divisive

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi listens to US President Donald Trump delivers his State of the Union address in February. Photo: TNS

News

World

United States & Canada


Donald Trump’s most potent Democratic nemesis stands firm against the US president like few others



House Speaker Nancy Pelosi stands firm against the US president like few others.


Donald Trump

US Politics

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;} Donald Trump’s most potent Democratic nemesis stands firm against the US president like few others

Donald Trump’s most potent Democratic nemesis stands firm against the US president like few others