Pelosi ups ante in Trump showdown

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) upped the ante in her battle with President Trump on Wednesday, disinviting him from delivering the State of the Union address initially planned for Jan. 29.

The move is a power play from Pelosi, and one that is guaranteed to please her base. But it carries risks, too, especially if the Speaker is seen as overplaying her hand.

Democrats are confident they have the political advantage on the partial government shutdown — a belief bolstered by public opinion polls — and swathes of the party’s supporters are adamant that no concessions should be made to the president in his push for a border wall.

The latest polls deepen the gloom for Trump.

The president’s job performance won the approval of only 34 percent of Americans in an Associated Press/NORC poll released within hours of Pelosi’s statement. It was Trump’s worst showing in that survey in more than a year, with a decline of 8 points since mid-December, before the shutdown began on Dec. 22.

https://thehill.com/homenews/the-memo/426686-the-memo-pelosi-ups-ante-in-trump-showdown?userid=229233