CHUCK, NANCY & TRUMP: IT’S A ‘MANHOOD THING’
Prez, Dem leaders engage in remarkable public faceoff over wall as shutdown looms
WASHINGTON — There’s a new reality show in town. President Donald Trump met with the Democratic congressional leaders in the Oval Office on Tuesday, Nancy Pelosi, the House Speaker-designate, and Chuck Schumer, who heads the minority in the Senate. The president decided to let the press pool in to witness what became a remarkable 18 minutes. Vice President Mike Pence was there, but he didn’t say anything.
Schumer and Pelosi talked about what it will take to avoid a looming government shutdown.
Trump focused only on getting Congress to fund his wall. The wall Mexico is supposed to pay for.
Schumer and Pelosi did not tolerate his false statements. They came to speak their mind to Trump, and that’s what they did, which made for mesmerizing television.
The repartee was sharp, as befitting two New Yorkers — Trump and Schumer — with big mouths, and Pelosi, whose moxie was bred in the precincts of Baltimore.
Trump: “If I needed the votes for the wall in the House, I would have them — in one session, it would be done.”
Pelosi: “Well, then go do it. Go do it.” Trump is not used to having people in the Oval Office tell him, to his face, that he’s got his facts wrong.
Schumer: “Here’s what I want to say: We have a lot of disagreements here. The Washington Post today gave you a whole lot of Pinocchios because they say you constantly misstate how much the wall is — how much of the wall is built and how much is there.”
The issue is not border security per se. Democrats are willing to spend billions of dollars on border security. They have been for years. Trump is fixated on the wall and only the wall.
Said Pelosi to Trump, “We have to have an evidence-based conversation about what does work, what money has been spent and how effective it is.”
Departing House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell let Trump get away with his false statements. Even with their acquiescence, Trump treated them like hired help.
Trump interacted with Schumer and Pelosi — and yes, I am playing political psychiatrist here — more like peers who he wants to have like him for the great guy he thinks he is. Maybe because he sees Pelosi and Schumer as big celebrities.
Schumer and Pelosi, who have quite a bit of experience dealing with outsized personalities, did better than they expected. By the time the press pool left the Oval so the talks could continue in private, Trump said several times that he is perfectly willing to shut down the federal government over just southern border wall funding.
“I will shut down the government. Absolutely,” said Trump.
Afterward, Pelosi went back to her office in the Capitol and debriefed her House leaders, members of the Steering and Policy Committee.
According to an aide who was in the room, Pelosi said when it comes to Trump, it’s a “manhood thing.”
Here is the recounting from the aide, about what Pelosi told her troops about the candid meeting: “Chuck is really shouting out. I was trying to be the mom. I can’t explain it to you. It was so wild. It goes to show you: You get into a tinkle contest with a skunk, you get tinkle all over you.
“You can’t let him take you down that path. But the fact is we did get him to say, to fully own that the shutdown was his.
“That was an accomplishment. … It’s like a manhood thing for him. As if manhood could ever be associated with him.”
I saw Pelosi later in the afternoon at a holiday reception for reporters, where she said that Trump phoned her after the meeting. It was at 4:08 p.m., and they spoke for about a minute. Nothing changed, Trump just was checking in.
It’s a new season in town.
‘‘WE DID GET HIM TO SAY, TO FULLY OWN THAT THE SHUTDOWN WAS HIS. THAT WAS AN ACCOMPLISHMENT.’’
NANCY PELOSI, D-Calif., House Speaker-designate, on President Donald Trump