DEMS/INFRASTRUCTURE/NANCY PELOSI/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Everything in Washington comes down to this: It’s House Speaker Nancy Pelosi vs. President Donald Trump. America’s two most powerful leaders came face-to-face Wednesday [5-22-19] in the most awkward of meetings. It was the latest twist in a many-layered test of wills that has momentous implications for the nation’s future. Pelosi had a frying-pan-into-the-fire moment when she headed to the White House to talk infrastructure reform after a meeting of her Democratic caucus, which is pulsating with calls for Trump’s impeachment…At the White House, the speaker joined another longtime Trump antagonist, Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, and key committee chairs to discuss the President’s bipartisan $2 trillion infrastructure plan. It was a momentary truce amid an expanding, multi-front war between Pelosi’s House Democrats and the White House, which is fast bringing America to the cusp of a constitutional crisis. Pelosi’s legendary grip on her Democratic troops is facing perhaps its most significant test over her reluctance to swiftly initiate impeachment hearings against Trump, even as he mounts a suffocating effort to thwart Democratic investigations.”
–Stephen Collinson, “Trump and Pelosi face-to-face after Speaker’s cover-up charge,” CNN Politics, CNN.com, May 21, 2019 11:32 am