With impeachment in rear view, Pelosi looks to next attack on Trump
Speaker Nancy Pelosi is looking to make a sharp pivot ¨from the heated politics of impeachment and
lash President Donald Trump in another key area: the economy.
In a series of private meetings this week, Pelosi has all but explicitly told her members that with the election just nine months away, it’s time for Democrats to shift the spotlight away from the Ukraine scandal and other controversies ensnaring Trump.
To further underscore that point, Pelosi hosted a special
speaker’s meeting on Tuesday with a top Obama economics adviser to explain to Democrats why the economy isn’t actually as strong as Trump claims and how they can message that to voters.
For moderate Democrats in competitive districts— including those where Trump dominated in 2016 — the shift away from impeachment less than a week after the Senate acquitted the president is a welcome reprieve
“I’m glad that we’re shifting and pivoting to something else. Every time I poll in my area, it’s always the same thing: education, health care and the economy,” said Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas, who is facing a fierce primary challenger from the left in his sprawling south Texas district.
The centrist Democrat said he sees Pelosi’s shift to the economy as a signal that talk of impeachment and investigations are over in the House, at least for now. A series of ongoing court cases, though, could renew the push among some Democrats to investigate Trump, including the bid to interview former White House counsel Don McGahn. But Democrats risk appearing as sore losers in light of the president’s acquittal.
“That is what I understand,” Cuellar said, jokingly tapping a wall outside the House chamber, as if to knock on wood. “That is what I’m hoping.”
Democrats, including Pelosi, argue that they’ve been talking about the economy nonstop since taking back control of the House — and have passed a new major trade agreement and a slew of other bills, most of which are languishing in the Republican Senate.
But after the Senate cleared Trump, Democrats are privately hoping their message can break through and damage a president who is heading into his reelection campaign more emboldened than ever.
Rep. Ron Kind of Wisconsin, who represents a Trump-district. Kind said Trump’s real problem is in states that are key to his reelection, like Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, where some haven’t benefited from the president’s economic good fortune.
“You still see record farm bankruptcies taking place in Wisconsin, a manufacturing recession, stagnant wage growth and no paid family or medical leave policy,” Kind said. “
These are major problems holding us back economically.”
Democrats have already begun to aggressively go after Trump’s track record on the economy, teeing up the same line of attack that they attribute to recapturing the House in 2018. But they can’t decide exactly how to message it.
Some Democrats are eager to go all in on hammering Trump, saying he’s lying about the claims he makes about the state of the economy when he came into office, the reality behind the rising wages and jobs numbers and the impact the Republican tax law has had on the middle class.
“Look, I think everyone will acknowledge, the stock market is up and unemployment is down, but that doesn’t tell the full picture,” said Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.), who heads the caucus’ messaging committee.
“I think all of us hear from our constituents. They know the economy is improving, but their own personal situation isn’t getting better,” Cicilline said.