What Trump Still Hasn’t Learned

Playbook: “In terms of navigating Washington, the speech showed Trump has a lot to learn. He said he wants to work with Democrats and called on Washington to ditch ‘trivial fights,’ but, in the last 40 days, he has called Chuck Schumer a phony and, just this week, he said Nancy Pelosi is incompetent. He called for immigration reform, but is intent on building a ‘great wall’ along the U.S.-Mexico border — a major problem for Democrats. He implored Democrats to work with him on a health-care overhaul, but spent a good chunk of time calling the Affordable Care Act — which they spent lots of political capital on — a failure. He also appeared to motion at Pelosi when railing against the law.”

“Newsflash: Mr. President, you’re going to need Nancy Pelosi more than you realize (see: debt ceiling, government funding, infrastructure). Get to know her. We’re not passing judgement on what Trump said. Merely discussing the political realities about what it means for governing. It was a mixed message, to put it mildly.”