Pelosi walks fine line between defying Trump and resisting impeachment

When Nancy Pelosi reclaimed the speaker’s gavel in January, Donald Trump had led the US into what would become the longest government shutdown in its history.

“I’m the mother of five, grandmother of nine,” Pelosi wryly told reporters amid the impasse. “I know a temper tantrum when I see one.”

The statement was an indictment of Trump’s decision to shut down the government over funding for a border wall – and indicative of how Pelosi intended to go toe-to-toe with a president who, in two years, has largely governed on his own terms.

Five months into leading the House majority, Pelosi, who for a second time is serving as the highest-ranking elected woman in the country, has proven uniquely capable of getting under Trump’s skin.

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But, as she defies the president and maintains a steady hand over her own caucus, Pelosi has been forced to contend with growing Democratic calls for impeachment. And as the battle between Trump and Democrats in Congress soars to new heights, some wonder how long the veteran California lawmaker can hold the line.

“I don’t envy the position that she’s in right now,” said Jim Manley, who served as an aide to former House majority leader Harry Reid and the late senator Ted Kennedy.

“Despite all that she’s done to keep the caucus in line, the president of the United States keeps on adding fuel to the fire that’s the impeachment process.”

Although polling has shown that a majority of Americans do not want Congress to impeach Trump, the administration’s unprecedented refusal to comply with any subpoenas issued by Democratic investigators in Congress have left some in the party questioning their options.

As of now, 25 House Democrats are publicly in favor of impeachment; others have indicated impeachment proceedings might be the only way to compel the White House to hand over information to congressional investigators.

Pelosi has openly acknowledged she believes Trump’s actions amounted to obstruction, but made the case that Congress is not yet in a place to impeach the president.

Addressing her caucus at a closed-door meeting on Thursday, Pelosi’s message was clear: the president, she argued, was trying to goad Democrats into launching impeachment proceedings in a bid to seize on a politically divisive issue.

“Understand this: he wants to be impeached,” she said, according to a Democratic aide. “This is time for – long overdue time – for a major intervention on this person.”

“His actions are villainous to the constitution of the United States.”

This week, the House speaker was once again unbowed in the face of Trump’s pressure tactics amid a contentious showdown over congressional investigations into his conduct.

Incensed by Pelosi’s suggestion that he had “engaged in a coverup”, Trump on Wednesday stormed out of a meeting with Democratic leaders on infrastructure policy. Speaking from the White House Rose Garden, the president vowed not to work with Democrats in Congress unless they ceased all inquiries concerning him and his administration.

It was clear Pelosi’s words had triggered Trump, who on Thursday referred to the House speaker as “crazy Nancy” and said she was “a mess”.

“She’s not the same person. She’s lost it,” he said.

“The president has structured his adult life and career so he rarely deals with a peer or near-peer who is female,” said Michael Steel, a former aide to the ex-House speaker John Boehner. “And provoking the president in this way is very good for Speaker Pelosi’s popularity within her own caucus.

“I think she has a keen sense of her own place in history, a high regard for her own capabilities combined with a very good understanding of where her caucus is generally.”