In time of crisis, Trump, Pelosi ties remain broken

WASHINGTON: Two of the most powerful people in Washington have not spoken in five months at a time when the nation is battling its worst health crisis in a century, one that has already killed more than 6,000 Americans and put 10 million others out of work.

President Donald Trump and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi last talked on Oct. 16, when Pelosi pointed her finger at the seated president during a heated exchange in a White House meeting that was captured in a widely shared photograph. Pelosi stormed out, and the two leaders’ frayed relationship was soon severed by the House’s impeachment of Trump months later.

Now, there are worries the broken relationship could hinder the federal government’s ability to respond to the growing coronavirus crisis, the extent of the damage reflected in Thursday’s report that a record 6.6 million people filed for unemployment, adding to more than 3 million from two weeks earlier. “Relationships are the beginning of everything. Trust in one another is key to cooperation,” said John M. Bridgeland, who held government posts under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama. The relationship between Trump and Pelosi, never warm, appears beyond repair after the Republican president’s impeachment, according to allies of both leaders. Even the COVID-19 pandemic, which has rewritten the rules of daily American life and threatens people’s health and employment, has done nothing to thaw the ice between the two.