In the face of 37 indictments, the President’s continued actions to undermine the Special Counsel investigation raise the questions: what does Putin have on the President, politically, personally or financially?  part of a statement released by Speaker Pelosi’s office on Saturday.

I’ve had a lousy winter cold and the last two weeks have faded into a grey haze of not much but sleep, blowing my nose, watching TV, and reading tweets so I feel out of it. Before my cold, I read that Nancy Pelosi was going to run for Speaker again, and I was disappointed. She is, after all, 78 years old and definitely old school at a time when I think new blood and new ideas are needed. But, between naps, as I watched the shutdown drone on, I began to think that she is the perfect foil for Trump. When Trump blinked and ended the shutdown with what seemed like no resolution, I was sure she was the right person. I’ve read that Pelosi won this round (but I think it is more accurate to say that everybody lost and that Trump lost the most). That’s not surprising to me. For a woman to rise to the office of Speaker of the House, she has to be better than any man around (after all, the default position is always White Male).

Right after the shutdown, which seems a long time ago now, I was thrilled to read the line at the top of the page, which I saw on a retweet from Ilhan Omar @IlhanMN, then I was incredulous, and finally, a little scared. Oh my God! The Speaker of the House or, Nancy, as Trump says he calls her, is going after the President and that is scary because Trump, himself, is scary crazy. He is usually the craziest guy in the room and he could do anything if pushed into a corner. I’ve calmed down now by thinking that if I had to make a bet between Speaker Pelosi and President Trump, I would take Pelosi, every time.

I guess that bet is a no-brainer though, women have to be better to make the team, let alone be the captain of the team, just like anybody of color. The average woman in Congress is much smarter and more capable than the average guy, she has to be. The amount of work that it took Trump to get where he is not even in the same ballpark as the amount of work it took Pelosi. As a woman in what has been a man’s game for most of her life, she has overcome more pain and rejection than any imagined by Trump. Pelosi’s rise to power has made her thick-skinned, while Trump’s waltz has, paradoxically, left him even more thin-skinned and isolated.