They have one of the most important relationships in Washington, but Speaker Nancy Pelosi and President Trump aren’t even on speaking terms.
In fact, the two haven’t talked to each other for nearly four months, and following the events of last week, many in Washington wonder whether they’ll ever be willing to work together again.
“The relationship between Trump and Pelosi looks to be permanently damaged and beyond repair,” said Ron Bonjean, a GOP strategist who was a top aide to House and Senate Republican leaders. “The impeachment process, along with the mudslinging insults, has buried any chances of reconciliation, especially during an election year.”
The Pelosi-Trump relationship was already splintered when Trump entered the House chamber last week to deliver his annual State of the Union speech.
He was greeted at the podium by Pelosi, who just a few weeks ago, led House Democrats to impeach Trump on two articles accusing him of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.
Pelosi and Trump had avoided communicating with each other for weeks. The two last spoke on Oct. 16 at a White House meeting about Syria.
Pelosi abruptly left that meeting after she got into a testy exchange with the president in which he called her a “third-rate politician,” and she accused him of having allegiance to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
By the time Trump reached the podium in the House on Tuesday, the animosity between the two had reached a high point.
Trump handed both Vice President Mike Pence and Pelosi a copy of his speech and, as he turned away, Pelosi extended her hand then quickly withdrew it when Trump didn’t shake it. It’s not clear whether he saw Pelosi’s outstretched hand, but some perceived it as a snub.
It went downhill from there.
Pelosi scowled through much of Trump’s 1-hour-and-18-minute address, in which he took credit for the nation’s economic prosperity and touted his legislative achievements.
When Trump was done with the speech, Pelosi tore her copy in half, in full view of the cameras, to signal her rejection of everything Trump said.
“I felt liberated,” Pelosi explained last week, telling reporters she shredded the speech because, in her view, it was laden with lies.
“We do not want the chamber of the House of Representatives to be used as a backdrop for one of his reality shows with unreality in his presentations,” Pelosi said.
Earlier in the day, Trump reflected on his difficult relationship with Pelosi at the National Prayer Breakfast, which took place a day after the Senate acquitted him of the impeachment charges.
Pelosi sat four seats away from him.
“When they impeach you for nothing, then you’re supposed to like them?” Trump asked the crowd. “It’s not easy, folks.”
For now, Pence is subbing in for the president and works with Pelosi on must-pass legislation, including the year-end spending bill that passed in December and is now funding the government through the end of the fiscal year.
It was Pence who called Pelosi to inform her last month of Iran’s retaliatory missile strikes against military bases housing U.S. troops in Iraq.
Now that the impeachment effort is over, questions remain about whether Trump is willing or able to work with Democrats on mutual goals, such as lowering prescription drug prices or fixing old and crumbling infrastructure.
Steny Hoyer, a Maryland Democrat and Pelosi’s top lieutenant in the House, pointed out that Democrats were able to secure a deal with the Trump administration on a major trade accord with Canada and Mexico and avoided an unpopular year-end spending showdown with the White House that had become routine.
“The president doesn’t like Nancy Pelosi and Nancy Pelosi is not wild about Donald Trump,” Hoyer acknowledged. “That could be said of a number of different Congresses probably, and presidents. But we have a responsibility to work together. We have done that. We are prepared to do it.”
