Pelosi is getting under Trump's skin -- and Dem lawmakers are sitting back and enjoying it: report

According to a report from the Daily Beast, Democrats behind the scenes are praising House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) for her ability to drive Donald Trump into uncontrollable rages while at the same time appearing to be above the fray.

Days after the senior Democrat expressed concern that the president was at risk from the coronavirus because he appears to be "morbidly obese" -- which set off a firestorm -- Democrats applauded her ability to get under the president's skin.

"The quip spun up a brief furor and outrage cycle; Trump responded that Pelosi was 'sick' and had 'mental problems,' comments which then spun up an outrage cycle of their own. Two days later, Pelosi defended herself, saying 'I was being factual in a very sympathetic way” and called the whole dust-up “unimportant,'" the report states. "But to those who’ve known and watched Pelosi for a long time, there’s a sense that there’s very little that she does or says that is not deliberate. With that in mind, some in the House Democratic caucus are looking at this week’s spat between Pelosi and the president as evidence of a greater willingness on her part to push his buttons with the kind of personal attacks that he frequently doles out himself."

According to one former Pelosi aide, her way of getting the president's attention come as no surprise.

"It’s her ability to say the truth in a way that really gets under his skin, I think it’s just reminding people there’s a lot more to this story than what he says,” the aide, who wished to remain anonymous, admitted. "In this situation with COVID-19 and truly needing the facts and that’s a way of actually breaking through the clutter.”

As for her fellow Democrats, while not all of them approve of her baiting the easily-riled Trump, she also has her fans.

“There is a benefit in owning him like this from time to time,” said one House Democratic aide. “She engages in these fights and it says, I am not going to be pushed around, I am powerful and my power is not dependent on you.”

The report goes on to note that Pelosi's needling of Trump has taken a more serious turn as the election nears.

"This year, the tension between the two leaders broke into the open in a way it hadn’t before. Before the fat crack, of course, was the infamous State of the Union snub—Trump rejecting Pelosi’s outstretched hand—which led to the infamous State of the Union slash—Pelosi ripping up Trump’s speech—which sparked a multi-day cycle of sniping and opining," the Beast reports. " The coronavirus pandemic has hardly drawn the two any closer. Though Congress and the White House have spent weeks on painstaking negotiations over historic bills to respond to COVID-19, Pelosi and Trump didn’t directly speak during any of it. In fact, the two have not spoken on the phone or in person since Oct. 16, 2019, when Pelosi went to a White House meeting on Syria, according to the speaker’s office."

"Naturally, however, Trump’s defenders in the congressional GOP have taken umbrage on behalf of the president in the wake of Pelosi’s attack. The House GOP leader, Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) tweeted that if he is speaker, he would never “rip up a president’s speech” or call them 'morbidly obese,'" the report adds. " It all reflects, to some Democrats, Pelosi’s unique ability to get under the president’s skin—and perhaps a sign she should do it more often. "It reminds people he is small,' said a House Democratic aide. 'Trump clearly fears and respects her, whereas he loathes Schumer, who is usually good cop when it’s time for wheeling and dealing.'"

You can read more here.