Donald likes Nancy

By M.S.R. | WASHINGTON, DC

NANCY PELOSI, the most powerful woman in America, does not hide her disdain for President Donald Trump. On January 2nd—the day before she became the first person in six decades to reclaim the Speakership of the House of Representatives—she suggested he might not know that Hawaii is part of the United States. After a televised meeting with Mr Trump in the White House last month (pictured)—during which she coined the term “Trump shutdown”—she reportedly described Mr Trump’s desire for a southern border-wall as “a manhood thing”. She also likened the president to a skunk.

The president would normally repay such slights with both barrels. But he has been uncharacteristically courteous back. While angrily reproaching Democrats for the two-week-long government shutdown on Twitter, he has avoided blaming Mrs Pelosi personally. That is despite other Republicans eagerly doing so.

Mr Trump has form in this regard. After the mid-term elections—in which Mrs Pelosi led House Democrats to victory with a 40-seat gain—Mr Trump said in cod amazement: “I like her. Can you believe it? I like Nancy Pelosi. I mean, she’s tough and smart”. He proceeded to offer to round up Republican votes to support her bid for Speaker, a post she first held between 2007 and 2011.

Another small but telling detail: Mr Trump has refrained from giving Mrs Pelosi a nickname, as he has done—to sometimes devastating effect—for most other opponents. Senator Elizabeth Warren, who on December 31st became the first prominent Democrat to kick off a presidential run, will find it hard to shake off the Trump-given moniker, “Pocahontas”, a jibe at her claim to Native American ancestry.

Why has the insult-loving Mr Trump cut Mrs Pelosi this slack? Part of the answer could be that he is hoping to pass some laws. There is a chance House Democrats and Republicans may work together on legislation to cut the price of prescription drugs and improve America’s woeful infrastructure—both areas in which Mr Trump has made promises to voters and Mrs Pelosi has shown interest.

But Mr Trump’s respect for Mrs Pelosi pre-dates his need for her cooperation. For years, Republicans have vilified her as an entitled, out-of-touch liberal, attacks that have contributed to Mrs Pelosi’s unpopularity with voters. Mr Trump has not joined them. After he won the presidency in 2016 he called Mrs Pelosi up and praised her “terrific” leadership skills. “I know what you do,” he said. “You’re somebody that gets things done, better than anybody.”

It appears that Mr Trump really admires Mrs Pelosi. He likes tough people—and at 78 her steeliness, recently displayed in the short shrift she gave to a brief leadership challenge, is undiminished. She remains a formidable party manager and vote-counter. Mr Trump also likes rich people, which Mrs Pelosi is too, thanks to her husband’s success in business.

What the president’s regard for the Speaker might be worth, however, is open to question. It has not made him any more receptive to compromising with the Democrats in order to end the shutdown. And it has certainly not made Mrs Pelosi soft on Mr Trump. On January 3rd she suggested he could be indicted while still in office.