As Pelosi Applauds Trump, the Internet Sees a Clapback – The New York Times

As the shutdown dragged on to become the longest on record, 35 days, the consensus was that Mr. Trump had met his match in Ms. Pelosi, so much so that a man known for giving foes insulting nicknames like “Cryin’ Chuck” and for labeling women “horseface,” “ugly” and “dog” could come up with only one term to refer to Ms. Pelosi: Nancy.

But Ms. Pelosi’s playbook for handling the president was evident back in December, when she and Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York, attended a televised Oval Office meeting with the president that went haywire.

In the verbal barrage that followed, the Democrats got Mr. Trump to take ownership of any shutdown that would follow, and Ms. Pelosi snapped: “Mr. President, please don’t characterize the strength that I bring to this meeting as the leader of the House Democrats.”

That round, too, went to Ms. Pelosi, according to political analysts.

Soon afterward, word leaked that in a closed-door meeting with her Democratic colleagues, she had called the wall debate “a manhood thing” for Mr. Trump, likening the meeting to “a tinkle contest with a skunk” and adding, “I was trying to be the mom.”

On Tuesday night, some Twitter users saw echoes of a stern matriarch in Ms. Pelosi’s countenance. She stared at notes in front of her and appeared to roll her eyes and shake her head at some points.

But it was the speaker’s fleeting “bless your heart” expression as Mr. Trump looks back at her — as if for approval — that had the internet buzzing.

As one Twitter user wrote: “Holy hell that look. When your Mom looks at you like that, don’t walk. Run.”