Let’s just take a moment to appreciate several of the iconic moments that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi provided the country over the past year on the way to besting Donald Trump Every. Damn. Time.
1. Pelosi puts Trump on notice
Dec. 11, 2018: After Donald Trump mansplained to Pelosi her diminished bargaining position regarding the impending government shutdown, she responded, “Mr. President, please don’t characterize the strength that I bring to this meeting as the leader of the House Democrats who just won a big victory.” It was during that meeting that Trump made the unrecoverable misstep of declaring: “I’ll tell you what: I am proud to shut down the government for border security.” Ultimately, Trump owned the shutdown while Pelosi owned him throughout the coming year.
2. Trump feels the burn of Pelosi’s Max Mara “fire coat"
Dec. 11, 2018: Pelosi exits the West Wing following the meeting in which Trump ambushed the Democratic leaders with reality TV coverage that didn’t turn out so well for him. She later told her caucus that shutting down the government over border wall funding was “like a manhood thing for him.” Buuuuuurn.
3. The State of the Union clap heard round the world
Feb. 5, 2019: After originally depriving Trump of the State of the Union audience he so badly craved during the government shutdown, Pelosi took a moment to own Trump all over again at the address after he delivered the glaringly empty line: "We must reject the politics of revenge, resistance and retribution." By year’s end, Trump was penning screeds accusing Pelosi of being “held hostage by your most deranged and radical representatives of the far left.”
4. Pelosi formally announces impeachment inquiry
Sept. 24, 2019: After months of promising that Trump would eventually “self-impeach,” Pelosi announced the House would launch a formal inquiry into Trump’s escalating Ukraine scandal. Polls flipped almost on a dime, with support for impeachment getting a double-digit bump from roughly the mid-30s to the mid-40s and above—close to where it remains today. Earlier in the day, Trump had called Pelosi and asked, “Can we work something out?” regarding the whistleblower complaint. Nope.
5. Pelosi faces down Trump and his generals
Oct. 16, 2019: It was that mid-October meeting in which Trump’s generals buried their gazes in their laps while Pelosi held Trump to account, noting that with him, “All roads lead to Putin.” They tussled over Trump’s spontaneous decision to pull U.S. troops out of Syria and abandon the Kurds, America’s longtime allies in the region. Pelosi and other Democratic leaders finally walked out of that meeting after Trump called Pelosi a “third-rate politician.” Trump later tweeted out the above photo, apparently thinking it would make Pelosi look bad. Smart move. Pelosi quickly made it the cover photo of her Twitter account, rendering her a hero of the Left all over again.
6. “Don’t mess with me”
Dec. 5, 2019: When a right-leaning reporter dared to ask Pelosi, "Do you hate the president, Madam Speaker?" Pelosi stuffed the question back down his throat. “I don’t hate anyone,” she retorted, explaining that impeachment was about the Constitution, not politics. “So don’t mess with me when it comes to words like that.”
7. No acquittal for you
Dec. 18, 2019: Dear Mr. President, you have been impeached and, once more, we’re not immediately transmitting the articles of impeachment to the Senate, where Leader Mitch McConnell has already promised a sham trial leading to your acquittal. Not so fast. Maybe next year, when we get around to it. Happy Holidays!
Honest to goddess, Trump hasn’t bested Pelosi once in his entire time as pr*sident. Certainly not in the midterms, where Pelosi’s strategy helped Democrats swamp Republicans. And looking back over 2019, Trump didn’t best her here or here or here or here or here or here—or anywhere else for that matter. Pelosi was a little slow on the uptake on impeachment, but on balance, she has kicked butt ever since leading House Democrats to victory in 2018 and reclaiming the gavel this year.