Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has assumed many roles for Democrats in the Trump era, from top campaign strategist and party spokesperson, to impeachment chief and emblem of women’s power.
To that list, add another: leading agitator of the commander-in-chief.
Pelosi last week assailed President Trump with a series of biting take downs, characterizing her White House rival as a thin-skinned political neophyte with an obesity problem. Trump responded in kind, suggesting Pelosi suffers from an unspecified mental illness.
The attacks were notably personal, even by the standards of the ongoing feud between a president and Speaker who haven’t spoken to each other in months. And Democrats on Capitol Hill are cheering the exchange as evidence that party leaders are ready to go toe-to-toe with the pugnacious president, both to advance their policy agenda amid the devastating coronavirus crisis and to invigorate their base heading into November’s high-stakes elections.