Nancy Pelosi has played naked politics over State of the Union

Nancy Pelosi. Picture: AFP.

Democrat leader Nancy Pelosi has played politics with Donald Trump in the most naked and devastating fashion by denying the president use of the House of Representatives to deliver his State of the Union address.

The first thing to understand is that Pelosi’s stated reasons for doing this — that there would be insufficient security for the speech — are rubbish.

Although the secret service and other security personnel who guard the Congress during the State of the Union address are federal workers who are currently working without pay because of the shutdown, they have agreed to work for the event.

This move by Pelosi, who is Speaker of the House, is all about politics and about trying to win the battle for the hearts and minds of voters during this now-record government shutdown.

In doing this she is so far beating Trump hands-down. A new AP-NORC poll shows that 60 per cent of Americans now say Trump bears responsibility for the shutdown compared with 31 per cent who blame the Democrats.

The same poll shows the president’s approval rating has slumped to 34 per cent, its lowest level in more than a year.

Pelosi’s naked political ploy of denying Trump the grand venue of the House chamber for the State of the Union speech will hurt Trump further.

The State of the Union is the pivotal set speech for any president, guaranteeing him a massive national audience and allowing him a prime time slot to sell his vision for the year ahead.

Although Trump will almost certainly still give a speech next week on the same day, the 29th, the White House has not yet found a venue. It certainly won’t be a venue that will be able to replicate the tradition and gravitas of the House chamber. The danger for Trump may be that without the setting of the House chamber and the presence of Democrats in the audience, any speech may resemble one of his campaign rallies.

This might be useful in speaking to his base but not much use for a president who desperately needs to grow that base.

So while Pelosi deserves no credit for her spurious claims about security, she is playing politics every bit as hard as the president. Because she is so far winning the shutdown battle, it is Trump who is the loser in this round.

Cameron Stewart is also US Contributor for Sky News Australia