sign in sign up
<<
Home , Hillary Clinton, John Murtha, San Francisco values, Zack Space

Politics

STAYING

Pelosi, pictured POWER at the Capitol in February, has raised hundreds of millions of dollars Loathed by the right, under fire for Democrats, yet many of them see from the left. says her as a millstone she isn’t going anywhere for the party BY MOLLY BALL PHOTOGRAPH BY GILLIAN LAUB FOR TIME Pelosi addresses Politics members of her during a meeting in February Nancy Pelosi stopped caring about what people think of her a long time ago, so she has no qualms about eating ice cream for

breakfast with a stranger. Dark as their biggest asset, and hope to mo- numbers and surged to the polls. Many chocolate, two scoops, waffle cone. It’s a tivate their voters in the midterm elec- of them look a lot like Pelosi once did. freezing January morning in Baltimore’s tions by putting her image in television They are brainy, liberal and comfort- Little Italy, where Pelosi grew up in the ads. Meanwhile, despite the hundreds of ably situated moms who have looked at 1950s. “You know what’s good about millions of dollars she has raised for her the political system with the exaspera- ice cream in this weather?” she says. “It party, nearly 60 Democratic House can- tion of a person who has seen her hus- doesn’t melt down your arm while you’re didates have returned the favor by call- band get the laundry wrong and realized eating it.” ing for new leadership. Alexandria Oc- that she’s going to have to do it herself. If We are sitting in an Italian café on asio-Cortez’s June 26 primary upset of Democrats regain congressional power Albemarle Street, alone save for the staff one of Pelosi’s lieutenants, Represen- in November, as most experts expect, it and Pelosi’s security detail, to whom she tative of , high- will be by riding a tidal wave of female has offered coffee. The Trump era has lighted the restlessness of the party’s rage. But rather than tout their female many Democrats in a panic, but Pelosi , and Pelosi’s erstwhile allies leader—the first woman Speaker in his- inhabits a more cheerful reality. She is in the Congressional Black Caucus have tory, and the odds-on favorite to reclaim convinced that has hit bottom, pushed Representative James Clyburn the title—many Democratic politicians, has seen the error of its ways and is ready to challenge her. Even the New York both male and female, are running in the to put her back in charge. Times editorialized that she should go. opposite direction. In this season of fe- The 78-year-old former House Speaker None of this fazes Pelosi. “If I weren’t male political empowerment, Pelosi’s It is not in Pelosi’s nature to cower or She told Ocasio-Cortez that while she walking tour, but it’s a cold day, and she knows what her critics say about her: that effective, I wouldn’t be a target,” she says, power still rankles. grovel. She will be who she is—liberal, loved Crowley, she had always wanted detests the cold.) A few blocks over, there she’s too old, too “toxic,” too polarizing; working on her ice cream as leftover It seems to enrage people that Pelosi privileged, unpopular—and let the chips to see more young, progressive women are hipster restaurants and lofts, but in that after three decades in Congress and Christmas songs play in the background. feels entitled to things: money, power, fall where they may. To some Democrats, in Congress, according to a person with this part of town, the corners still feature 15 years leading her party’s caucus, she The only part that bothers her, she says, is respect. Of course it does—a woman Pelosi’s is an attitude of unconscionable direct knowledge of the conversation. traditional pasta houses. has had her turn and needs to get out of when women who are thinking of running is always held responsible for her selfishness: she’s willing to damage “There’s a lot to do,” Pelosi told her. D’Alesandro wore a bow tie and straw the way. But there’s a reason she sticks for office tell her they couldn’t withstand reputation. Clinton, in her years running her party to hold on to the position “Thank you for your courage to run. This boater and helmed an old-school urban around. Had won the the abuse. “I say, ‘Forget what they’re for President, was asked over and over she believes she deserves. The story of is not for the faint of heart.” It was typ- Democratic machine, with party bosses 2016 election, she says, “we’d have a doing to me, because you won’t be that again some version of the question, Nancy Pelosi is, inevitably, the story of ical Pelosi—a compliment, wrapped in pledging the loyalty of their tribes: the woman at the head of the table.” When much of a target. But you will be a target, Why do you think people don’t like what people think of her. The way she is an invitation to join the team, with just Italians, the Irish, the Jews, the blacks. that didn’t happen, Pelosi realized that because this is about power. And if you you? (Despite not being on any ballot, recognized and remembered, the way she a hint of potential consequences. And it His politics were about favor-trading without her, there might not be a woman look like you’re making headway they will Clinton, too, figures prominently in the is held to account. And so Pelosi doesn’t reflected a political education that, for Pe- and patronage, not grand ideological de- in the room at all. come after you. And it won’t be a pretty Republicans’ fall campaign strategy.) A have the luxury of not caring about what losi, began a lifetime ago. signs. (His aspirations to become gov- Pelosi is one of the most sight.’” powerful woman is always defined less people think of her: it’s the question The youngest of seven children and ernor were thwarted by a corruption consequential political figures of her The attacks on Pelosi are particu- by what she has done than by how she on which her future, and the future of the only girl, Pelosi grew up like royalty. scandal involving parking-garage con- generation. It was her creativity, stamina larly ironic in this political moment. makes people feel. American politics, depends. Her father Thomas D’Alesandro Jr. was a struction, according to a 1954 TIME re- and willpower that drove the defining Since ’s election, Ameri- Pelosi isn’t humble. Many women, she member of Congress when she was born, port.) Pelosi has a strong sense of ethnic Democratic accomplishments of the past can women have poured into the streets, thinks, are afraid to show pride and need The morning after the biggest in 1940, and the mayor of Baltimore by the identity—she credits her Italian heritage decade, from universal access to health signed up to run for office in record to see an example of confidence. Besides, primary upset of 2018, Pelosi placed a time she was 7. When young Nancy wasn’t for her stamina—and as a leader she ap- coverage to saving the U.S. economy making sure you get your due isn’t call to Ocasio-Cortez. The 28-year-old being ferried to a Catholic girls’ school, proaches the factions of the Democrats in from collapse, from reforming Wall something you can delegate. One former socialist from had predicated she was attending her father’s ceremonial a similar party-boss style. As her friend Street to allowing gay people to serve Pelosi aide told me everything she does is her campaign against the House’s fourth events or helping him get out the vote. Her the late Congressman used openly in the military. Her Republican ‘IF I WEREN’T rooted in this combination of obligation most powerful Democrat on getting rid of father’s ancestors had immigrated from to say, “Don’t think she’s from San Fran- successors’ ineptitude has thrown her and entitlement: the sense that someone the old, out-of-touch party establishment, Genoa, Venice and Abruzzo, her mother’s cisco. She’s from Baltimore.” skills into sharp relief. It’s not a stretch EFFECTIVE, ought to do something, and she is the and pundits were speculating about the from the southern Italian city of Campo- Pelosi’s family made her a Democrat,

to say Pelosi is one of very few legislators only one who can do it. Pelosi seems to TIME FOR LAUB GILLIAN implications for other longtime leaders. basso. The family lived in a three-story but it was the 1960s that made her a in who actually know what feel no need to apologize for her status in Sitting on a goldenrod-colored sofa in brick row house in the heart of Little Italy, liberal. While at Trinity College, a Catholic they’re doing. I WOULDN’T the way women are expected to and men her airy office on the second floor of the a blue collar community near Baltimore’s women’s school in D.C. now known But few people talk about her in those rarely are. Perhaps the assertion of ego by Capitol, Pelosi picked up the phone and industrial waterfront. The house appears as Trinity Washington University, she terms. Instead, Pelosi is regarded as a BE A TARGET.’ a woman is the most radical act there is: set to the job of holding her fractious vacant now; Pelosi points it out to me as attended John F. Kennedy’s Inauguration political liability. Republicans see her NANCY PELOSI the refusal to submit or be subordinate. party together. we drive by. (We had planned to take a and was swept off her feet. “Forget movie

26 Time September 17, 2018 27 1940 1975 2001 2010 Baltimore newspapers Pelosi, a housewife and Pelosi ascends to Pelosi is instrumental herald the birth of a baby mother of five, enters congressional leadership in the passage of the girl, Nancy D’Alesandro, her first public office as when she’s elected , at LIFE OF A to the family of a local an appointed member Democratic whip by her one point demanding the Congressman and of the colleagues in a hard- not give LEGISLATOR future mayor library commission fought internal battle up the fight for universal against Rep. health care

1920 1925 1930 1935 1940 1945 1950 1955 1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020

1969 1987 1990 2006 2018 Pelosi moves to Pelosi runs for Congress Fulfilling a campaign Democrats take back the Pelosi spends eight San Francisco, in a special to fight AIDS, House on a wave of public hours speaking the hometown after a deathbed request Pelosi co-authors the anger at the war in , continuously on the of her husband from the incumbent; she Ryan White Act, which which Pelosi opposed; she House floor about the Paul, a financier wins a 14-way primary to devotes billions of dollars becomes the first female need for immigration take the seat in federal funds to treating Speaker of the House relief for Dreamers victims of the disease stars. We were all in love with JFK,” recalls she still envisioned herself as a helpmeet, and an early She spent the whole time running a hard- stituents who were losing their homes,” ties that died in the Senate, including a Pelosi’s college friend Rita Meyer, one of a a behind-the-scenes player. Then, in 1987, Pelosi supporter. “The people in her fought race against Representative Steny says John Lawrence, Pelosi’s chief of staff union-boosting measure and climate leg- tight group of four girlfriends who remain the San Francisco Congresswoman Sala district don’t see her as somebody whose Hoyer of Maryland, who had known Pe- at the time. The bailout passed the House islation. Her unruly caucus spanned the close today. Her still resembles Burton, who was dying of colon cancer, time has passed. They see her as a very losi since her college days. Pelosi was ac- with the support of 172 Democrats and 91 ideological spectrum, from Blue Dog con- JFK’s brand of liberalism: Catholic social called Pelosi to her bedside and made her vigorous defender of their rights.” cused of threatening to punish an unsup- Republicans. servatives to far-left ideologues, but Pe- justice, with a touch of noblesse oblige. promise to run for the seat. When Burton portive colleague by getting her district In this and other legislative jams, Pe- losi never lost a major vote. “I was in those She embarked on the life of a tradi- died, Pelosi moved into an elegant house In these days of gridlock, most mem­ redrawn. Hoyer eventually became Pe- losi’s strategy was persistence, persua- rooms when people were saying, ‘Let’s tional wife and mother. It was 1963, the in the posh end of the district and entered bers of Congress exhibit a sort of learned losi’s No. 2 and a committed frenemy—a sion and an encyclopedic knowledge of just throw in the towel,’ and she’d say, year The Feminine Mystique was pub- a fractious 14-way Democratic primary. helplessness, waiting for someone else situation House Democrats describe as a her caucus: what they wanted and what ‘Give me the names and leave me alone lished, and the idea that women would Pelosi positioned herself as a well- to come up with an idea so that they long-running cold war. they feared. The night before a big vote, for a minute,’” says George Miller, a re- graduate from college and start careers connected pragmatist, with the slogan can come out against it. It is especially During the George W. Bush years, Pe- she and her staff would pore over the list tired Congressman. hadn’t taken hold. She had watched “A voice that will be heard.” She spent bracing, in this environment, to relive losi was a vociferous critic. She was the of uncommitted members, figuring out The crowning achievement of Pelosi’s her own mother’s ambitions stifled by more than $1 million, a staggering sum some of Pelosi’s early crusades. She most prominent Democrat to oppose the who could be swayed and how. “Invari- career was health care reform. Democratic a domineering spouse. Now Pelosi fol- at the time and more than the rest of the may not have set out for Congress, but war in Iraq from the start, believing the ably, she’d get to the bottom of the list and Presidents had been pursuing universal lowed her husband, financier Paul Pelosi, field combined. Her campaign targeted once she got there, she attacked it with intelligence wasn’t solid. In 2006, buoyed go back to the top and start over,” says health care since the New Deal. Pelosi to New York City and then to San Fran- the district’s wealthy residents with flyers ­urgency—and frequently won. by an electorate that had come around to Lawrence, “which was not very appeal- helped craft the House version of the Af- cisco, giving birth to five children in rapid that promised she would fight income-tax As a junior member, she spent five Pelosi’s antiwar position, the Democrats ing at 2 a.m.” fordable Care Act. The trickiest part was succession. hikes. It was likely Republican voters who years fine-tuning a complicated plan to won the House, and Pelosi became Amer- When won in 2008, balancing regional interests, particularly Her life changed in 1975, with a call carried her to victory, according to Marc preserve San Francisco’s verdant Presidio ica’s first female Speaker. Democrats had their chance to put in setting and Medicaid reim- one afternoon from then San Francisco Sandalow’s Madam Speaker. by converting it from a military installa- Then, at the height of the 2008 cam- roughly a decade’s worth of pent-up ideas bursement rates, which vary by jurisdic- Mayor Joseph Alioto. “Nancy, what are The district was the center of the city’s tion to a public-private partnership with paign, the economy collapsed. On the af- into practice. They enacted fair pay for tion. At one point, Pelosi and others recall, you doing? Making a big pot of pasta?” gay community. Pelosi became its cham- the National Park Service. Her own party ternoon of Sept. 18, Pelosi called Treasury women, college aid and the stimulus, an aide told her there were 67 members

she recalls him saying. (Pelosi is not pion, fighting for everything from health put the legislation aside, but Pelosi kept EPA/SHUTTERSTOCK 2010: IMAGES; GETTY 2018: 2006, 1987, 2001, PELOSI; NANCY COURTESY 1940: Secretary and suggested which included a raft of anti-poverty ef- who hadn’t committed to vote for the much of a cook.) He offered her a spot insurance and housing subsidies to the at it, enlisting Republican allies, lobby- they meet with congressional leaders the forts. Pelosi’s House passed other priori- bill and asked how they should split up on the city’s library commission and in- AIDS quilt, a football-field-size memorial ing fellow members and offering policy next day. But Paulson said it couldn’t wait the work of persuading them. “Give me sisted that she take it. “I said, ‘I’m inter- she convinced the National Park Service concessions. In 1995, she managed to get that long. That evening, the Republican the list,” Pelosi said, and she made calls ested in the library, but I don’t need an to allow on the Mall. She co-authored the a Republican Congress to create the na- and Democratic leaders of the House and through the night. appointment to the commission,’” she bipartisan 1990 Ryan White Act, feder- tion’s most expensive national park—in Senate met in Pelosi’s conference room PELOSI’S Pelosi also knew when people didn’t recalls. “And he said, ‘You shouldn’t say ally funding the treatment of low-income the middle of San Francisco. As one Re- with Paulson, Federal Reserve Chairman want to hear from her and could find other that. You’re doing the work; you should AIDS patients, which she muscled onto publican, James Hansen of Utah, mar- Ben Bernanke, Securities and Exchange STRATEGY IS buttons to push. To win the vote of Joe receive official recognition for it.’” That the national agenda and got a Republican veled at the time, “There is no question Commission chairman Chris Cox and Donnelly, a conservative Indiana Demo- was a feminist lesson that stuck with President to sign. She was a supporter of she is a very persistent legislator.” White House representatives. PERSISTENCE, crat who is now in the Senate, she got the her—a woman should get the credit she gay marriage at a time when her party was Pelosi claimed to have no interest in There were just six weeks until the former president of Notre Dame to appeal deserved—even if it was amusingly dis- pushing the Defense of Marriage Act. In a leadership position. But when, in 1997, election, and it was clear that the bailout PERSUASION to his Catholic conscience. Zack Space, sonant with the mayor’s assumption that 1993, she read a letter from the only Californian among the Demo- Bernanke and Paulson were asking for a Greek-American former Congressman she spent her days slaving over a stove. at an AIDS rally that the President de- cratic brass stepped down, she saw her would be extremely unpopular. House AND AN from , started getting calls from the Pelosi became active in California clined to attend in person. When detrac- moment and began jockeying, calling in Republican leader couldn’t Greek-American donor community when politics, raising money for candidates. tors sneer at her “San Francisco values,” favors from her years of fundraising. “She deliver the 100 votes he had promised. So ENCYCLOPEDIC Pelosi wanted to apply pressure on a dif- She went on to chair the California she hears a homophobic . raised the f-cking dough,” explained her Pelosi went back to her people and begged ferent measure. “She could hear frequen- Democratic Party and took a lead role in As Pelosi saw it, she was sent friend and mentor, former Congressman for more support. “She had to go to the KNOWLEDGE cies from the caucus that weren’t audible organizing the 1984 Democratic National to Washington to stick up for her John Burton of California. “She ought to Democratic caucus and convince them to to others,” says former New York Con- Convention. She discovered a talent for constituents. “She knew people be able to get something for it.” give a $700 billion bailout to the most un- OF HER gressman . assuaging the egos of powerful men even personally who were dying by the week,” It took four years for the role Pelosi popular human beings on the face of the In January 2010, Democrats lost the as she stood her ground against them. Yet says James Hormel, a co-founder of the wanted, Democratic whip, to open up. , then go home and face their con- CAUCUS Massachusetts Senate seat vacated by the 28 Time September 17, 2018 29 Politics

death of , depriving them leadership. She’s been there a long time.” is a theme that works anywhere in the of their crucial 60th vote to surmount a Democrats, he says, need leaders who country. It’s very motivating,” says Corry . Sensing that the party was losing can galvanize and rally the base. “Noth- Bliss, who is in charge of the House the politics of the health care debate, ing against her,” he says, “but I think her Republicans’ super PAC, speaking as if White House chief of staff best years are behind her.” Pelosi were a policy proposal. People have circulated a plan to pull back, passing It is the Harris County Democratic a “visceral” reaction to her, he tells me. only a children’s health care measure and Party’s largest annual dinner in history, “We will spend tens of millions of dollars moving on from the issue. At a meeting in a testament to the energy on the left this reminding people across the country of the Oval Office, Pelosi confronted Obama. year. Pelosi sits at a table with her longtime what she would do as Speaker.” “Mr. President, I know there are some on friend, the Democratic megadonor Amber A House special election your staff who want to take the namby- Mostyn, under a giant chandelier. Onstage in March foreshadowed this approach. pamby approach,” she said, according to is Texas Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Nearly 60% of the GOP’s ads consisted two people who were in the room. “That’s Lee, a notorious stage hog who once of attacks on Pelosi, while 7% of the Dem- unacceptable.” Obama took Pelosi’s side, complained that hurricane names are ocrat’s ads featured the candidate assur- and Emanuel’s plan died. racist. To Pelosi’s surprise—she hates ing voters he didn’t support her, accord- Obama’s relationship with Pelosi was being surprised—Jackson Lee has Hillary ing to the Wesleyan Media Project. The his closest one on Capitol Hill, a former Clinton on her phone, which she holds Democrat, , won anyway. “If Obama aide tells me. “More than any- up to the mic, causing booming echoes. all we’ve got is Nancy Pelosi,” a Republi- one else in the Congress, Clinton, reading woodenly, acknowledges can strategist told me, “we’re pretty des- Pelosi House or Senate, Democrat or Republi- “the presence of our great Democratic perate. It’s not going to be enough.” and Senate Democratic can,” says the Obama aide, “she always leader, Nancy Pelosi,” then reads a What Pelosi would like the election to leader Chuck kept her word to him, and she always confusing tribute to a dead woman who be about is neither her nor Trump but the Schumer huddle delivered.” (The favor wasn’t necessar- has not been honored on the program. tax legislation that the Republican Con- in the Capitol ily repaid: Obama refused to appear at a (Pelosi’s relationship with Clinton is gress passed in December, which she has in March Pelosi campaign event during his 2012 re-­ cordial but distant, aides to both say.) dubbed the “GOP tax scam.” Calling it a election campaign, according to a source Finally, nearly three hours in, Pelosi handout for the wealthy, she has derided familiar with the episode.) takes the stage. Friends say she has its benefits to the middle class as mere The halcyon days of liberal legislating improved as a public speaker, but she’s “crumbs,” a comment for which Repub- interests,” and Pelosi speaks carefully, But Pelosi evinces an odd equanimity. Trump blasted it even as he signed it. were short. In 2010, Republicans took still uninspiring, reading laundry lists of licans pilloried her. But Pelosi thinks she’s not wanting to be baited into a “basket Not wanting to become Trump’s foil, she No detail in that bill escaped Pelosi’s back the House, riding a wave of voter policies, reciting shopworn slogans and winning the argument. In their midterm of deplorables” moment. lambastes him far less than she did Bush. attention. At one point, to resolve an im- anger at Obama, the bailouts trotting out the same quotations over and campaigns, Republicans have largely Trump voters, she says, need compas- “Being surprised, disappointed, even passe over minor-league baseball sala- and health care reform. Pelosi was ex- over. “Some people have an unlimited stopped touting the tax bill, as the mes- sion, not condescension. “I don’t want to wondering about his behavior is a luxury ries, she worked out a compromise with pected to resign in defeat, but she refused. tolerance for the suffering of others,” she sage didn’t seem to be resonating. be disrespectful of any of the people who we can’t afford,” she tells me over dinner the league through her relationship with There was only one way she would be vin- says at one point. “And we’re like, ‘What? Pelosi may have a rare talent for legis- voted for the President,” she says. “I do at a Houston resort. It’s another one of her the president of the San Francisco Giants, dicated: winning the majority again. And That’s not the way it’s supposed to be.’” lating, but her campaign skills are ques- want to make sure they understand what tiny nonmeals: she’ll consume only a bowl securing the players a pay increase. The she was willing to wait. Republicans would like the 2018 elec­ tionable. As proof of her acumen, she’s he is doing to them.” It may take patience, of seafood chowder and a glass of water, final bill lifted spending caps and boosted tion to be about Pelosi. “Nancy Pelosi still telling the story of the 2000 elec- she adds. “Did you ever know anybody and spend nearly three hours talking. “I domestic appropriations by some $60 bil- If it’s Friday, this must be Houston. tions, when she helped her party pick who was dating a jerk?” she asks. “Could can’t waste my time thinking, Why would lion, while blocking Republican efforts at Pelosi has raised $680 million for her up five House seats in California even as you tell her? No. You have to wait until he say that? Why would anybody support environmental, labor and banking dereg- party since 2002, and on this February Democrats lost races across the country. she figures it out for herself—hopefully somebody who says that?” she says. “It ulation. “We wouldn’t have been able to evening she is clicking across the ‘I JUST She takes credit when her party wins, but before it’s too late—or you’ll just drive her doesn’t matter anymore. All we have to pass that spending package under Barack basement floor of the convention-center blames others when Democrats lose. Her into his arms.” do is win this election so that we can have Obama,” a House Democratic staffer told hotel where the local Democratic Party is message this year, that Republicans are for Later, Pelosi mingles with the crowd. leverage for the American people.” me. “Republicans would have laughed us holding a fundraising dinner. It’s one of 71 CAN’T GET the rich, is essentially the same one Dem- A woman has brought a book to be signed In the meantime, Pelosi has used her out of the room.” The real art of the deal events she’ll attend in a three-month span. ocrats have used in every recent election, for her daughter. “You’re an inspiration,” scant power in Congress to considerable in Washington is being practiced by Pe- In public, she tries to mention Trump as OVER THIS with a couple of new slogans attached— she says. A man volunteers advice: “Put effect. Despite controlling all three losi, in what ought to be the Capitol’s least little as possible, but as she speed-walks even thought the President is far from President Trump on the spot!” he says. branches of government, Republicans powerful caucus. through the hotel she can’t help herself. PRESIDENT. a normal Republican. “The leadership “Offer to debate him!” The women have have proved unable to enact most of Pelosi’s talents aren’t always enough. “I just can’t get over this President,” she is still in this mind-set,” a former gratitude; the men have demands. The their promises, including their signature Last year, the President told her and says. “He is so beneath the dignity of the HE IS SO member tells me. women respect her; the men want to tell vow to repeal Obama­care. Pelosi and her Schumer he wanted to protect young office, with everything that he says. It’s The morning after the dinner in her what to do. She smiles graciously and Senate counterpart, , have undocumented immigrants, known as just amazing to me!” BENEATH THE Houston, Pelosi travels to a teachers’- poses for another picture. repeatedly outmaneuvered the President. Dreamers. But he soon retreated to a The people at the exclusive predinner union hall for a discussion on the tax In September 2017, they got Trump to hard-line position. A January government reception have all paid to meet Pelosi, DIGNITY OF law. She sits in a folding chair at the For someone like Pelosi, who has agree to a spending deal that raised the shutdown over the issue ended after two but that doesn’t mean they all adore her. front of the room, enduring another spent her life in service of institutions— debt ceiling and funded the government, days, when Senate Democrats panicked “She is a strong leader,” says Sergio Lira, a THE OFFICE.’ endless preaching-to-the-choir event. indeed, for anyone who has spent their drawing howls from conservatives. In and caved. In February, Pelosi made local school-board official. “But honestly, NANCY PELOSI, One person asks her what Democrats can life following a set of agreed-upon rules— March they cut another spending deal, a last stand, taking to the floor of the

I think maybe it’s time for a change in on President Trump do about people “voting against their best IMAGES LOEB—AFP/GETTY SAUL the Trump era has been destabilizing. this one so favorable to Democrats that House for eight hours to read the stories

30 Time September 17, 2018 31 Politics

of young immigrants. It was a political woman urged supporters while outgoing Speaker ’s was stunt designed to draw attention away to publicly confront members of the 40%, Schumer’s was 29%, and Republi- from the fact that Democrats had failed Trump Administration, Pelosi rebuked can Senate leader Mitch McConnell’s was the Dreamers. her, tweeting, “Trump’s daily lack of 24%. “I think I have my pluses and my mi- The following month, Pelosi called civility has provoked responses that are nuses,” Pelosi tells me. “But I have a con- Trump in a last-ditch effort to work out predictable but unacceptable.” The base fidence about what I bring to the table in a solution. He greeted her by noting that erupted. The old, white establishment terms of my network of friends around he had recently run into her son in Palm of the Democratic Party “just isn’t the country. And I get things done, even Beach, Fla. Pelosi steered the conversation where the base is on how big a threat with a Republican President.” to immigration, urging him to support white supremacy is to the country,” says Pelosi has been reading about the tech- bipartisan legislation pairing a Dreamer Sean McElwee, co-founder of Data for nicalities of impeachment, but she thinks fix with border-security measures. Trump, Progress, “vs. how big a threat being it’s a political loser now. “I have my judg- noncommittal, suggested they have lunch mean to Trump is.” ment about this President,” she says. “But instead. Pelosi concluded that she was the American people are not going to ac- wasting her time and turned him down. Despite the frustrations, Pelosi cept an impeachment if there isn’t solid, Trump blasts Pelosi in public, but in persists. No one I spoke to expects she conclusive evidence presented in a non­ private he treats her with a sometimes will lose a Speaker vote if Democrats political way.” Some of her colleagues, I awkward solicitousness. At one White take the House by a big margin. If they reply, believe that evidence already exists. House meeting, Pelosi casually said that lose or win a slim majority, it could be “We’ll see what Mr. Mueller discovers,” the group assembled should “pray for a different story. Her grip on her cau- she says. “It remains to be seen.” success” on immigration, according to cus is principally due to her legislative It’s now dark outside and I’m ex­ an aide briefed on the meeting. “Are you skills and the favors she has accrued. hausted, having met Pelosi after her going to pray?” Trump asked her. She But it’s also because there’s no obvious morning walk and 8 a.m. hair appoint­ ignored him and kept talking, only to successor. Over the years, Pelosi has fro- ment, taken half as many meetings and have him repeatedly implore her to “do zen out, stymied or simply outlasted worn substantially more comfortable a .” Seeing that she did not intend younger members who seemed to pose shoes. After this, I’ll go to bed, but Pelosi to conduct one, Trump finally got Vice threats, most of whom—Chris Van Hol- will take advantage of the time difference President to do it instead. len, , Israel—have given to make several hours of calls to the West Thanks in large part to Trump’s un- up and left the House. Crowley’s loss re- Coast. An aide refers to her pace as “kill- popularity, a comeback is in sight for the moved another potential threat, while the-staff speed.” Democrats. As many as 91 Republican- also creating a vacancy in leadership. A Thinking back to our conversation in held seats may be vulnerable in Novem- competition for that position would take Baltimore, I ask Pelosi if men aren’t right ber, and most nonpartisan handicappers some heat off Pelosi. But the threat is to feel threatened by the rise of women. think Democrats are favored to gain the 23 real: under pressure from members, Pe- After all, there’s only so much power to go seats they need to retake the House. That losi in mid-July pushed back the party’s around. She disagrees, insisting it’s not a would make Pelosi the Speaker again—if a post-election leadership vote until after zero-sum game. But isn’t there only one majority of Democrats support her. Thanksgiving. Speaker of the House? “That’s just one She insists that they do, but her hold The idea that she’s a liability peeves job,” she says. “There are other jobs.” on the caucus has clearly diminished. In Pelosi and her staff, who argue Republi- Once, while she was Speaker, Pelosi 2016, 63 House Democrats—nearly one- can congressional leaders are just as un- traveled to via Kuwait. third—voted against her for leader. No popular, if not more so. In a June The Kuwaitis treated her with elaborate one argued that Pelosi’s challenger, Ohio poll, Pelosi’s approval rating was 29%, deference, calling her “Your Excellency.” Representative Tim Ryan, could manage As the military plane soared over snow- the caucus better, negotiate better capped peaks, Pelosi heard the pilot say deals with Trump or better shepherd he was headed for Kabul. That’s wrong, complicated legislation through the PELOSI HAS she said. You’re supposed to be taking fractious and unruly House. They just me to Bagram Airfield to see the troops. wanted change. FROZEN OUT, But the pilot wouldn’t take her word for Since then, the angst has only it. He called the U.S. embassy in Pakistan. grown. Crowley’s defeat inspired more STYMIED OR She could hear him on the radio: “Our infighting, with younger members instructions say to go to Kabul, but such as Representative Seth Moulton SIMPLY payload wants to go to Bagram.” Pelosi of Massachusetts agitating for her cracks up at the memory: “In a few hours, ouster. Ocasio-Cortez, who hasn’t said OUTLASTED I went from ‘excellency’ to ‘payload’!” whether she would support Pelosi, She leaves the real punch line epitomizes the young, diverse, far-left YOUNGER unspoken. It didn’t matter what they grassroots Democrats who find Pelosi called her. In the end, they did what she frustrating. In June, after Congress­ MEMBERS wanted. • 33