Pelosi proudly shows photo Trump calls her ‘meltdown’
WASHINGTON — President Trump called it a “meltdown.” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi made it her cover photo.
Trump tweeted a picture of the San Francisco Democrat standing up in a White House meeting Wednesday, sternly pointing at him as she says something. She was one of a delegation of lawmakers from both parties who were invited to the White House to discuss the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Syria and Turkey’s invasion of the country.
By all accounts, the meeting devolved quickly. Democrats said the president walked in angry and disrespectful, and called Pelosi a “thirdgrade politician” after she pointed to a House vote earlier in the day disapproving of Trump’s pull
out. The speaker, No. 2 House Democrat Steny Hoyer and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer soon left.
“Nervous Nancy’s unhinged meltdown!” Trump tweeted with the picture.
Trump’s tweet borrowed her own language: Pelosi called Trump’s behavior a “meltdown” to reporters on the White House grounds after the meeting.
“Now, we have to pray for his health because this was a very serious meltdown on the part of the president,” she added upon returning to the Capitol.
But Pelosi and her supporters embraced the picture, which depicted her, the only woman at the table, holding the floor. In fact, she made it the cover photo of her Twitter account.
Pelosi explained the moment in a briefing Thursday, saying it had been taken as she delivered a parting shot to Trump shortly before she walked out.
“I think I was excusing myself from the room,” Pelosi said.
“At that moment I was probably saying, ‘All roads lead to Putin,’ ” she said, referring to the gift that Democrats and many Republicans say Trump delivered to Russian President Vladimir Putin by pulling out of Syria.
Republicans blamed Pelosi, Hoyer and Schumer for sabotaging the meeting, saying it was more productive after the three left. The White House said Trump had been “measured, factual and decisive.”
The episode was an echo of a May meeting between Trump and Democrats, originally called to talk about infrastructure, in which Trump stormed out.
Pelosi was not the only one to embrace the picture, as her supporters and others pointed to it as a sign of her strength.
“I hope this picture of Nancy Pelosi, the sole woman at the table, standingup and speakingup, inspires other badass women to run for office,” tweeted Republican commentator Ana Navarro, a frequent Trump critic.