House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) could be the speaker next year, holding the keys to whether President Donald Trump’s final two years are productive or consumed by impeachment and government shutdown fights.
But the duo’s fraught relationship points to the latter. On Thursday, Trump implied Jeffries bore responsibility for the April 25 attempt on his life at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner and suggested the Democratic leader should be charged with inciting violence.
“This lunatic, Hakeem ‘Low IQ’ Jeffries, should be charged with INCITING VIOLENCE,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “The Radical Left Democrats actually want to Destroy our Country.”
Trump attached a photo of Jeffries calling for “maximum warfare” three days before the WHCA shooting, emblazoning the phrase over a picture of Trump.
Jeffries dismissed Trump’s call, saying he had to “wake up to another deranged rant from this guy.”
“Democrats are about to take back the House and you’re losing your mind,” Jeffries posted on X. “Where’s the luv?”
White House spokesman Davis Ingle told the Washington Examiner in a statement that Jeffries is “truly one of the dumbest and most divisive members of Congress.”
The animosity between the two party leaders could spell trouble should Democrats retake the House in November, breaking up the GOP trifecta in Washington.
In that scenario, Jeffries would suddenly become one of the most powerful checks on Trump’s final two years in office.
Democrats would control what legislation reaches the House floor, wield subpoena and oversight power over the administration, and hold the ability to launch impeachment proceedings. Congress is also expected to face another debt ceiling fight by mid-2027, potentially forcing Trump and Jeffries into high-stakes negotiations over spending and fiscal policy.
Despite the stakes, Trump and Jeffries have publicly met in person only once.
“It’s a very contentious thing — a relationship in a deeply divided country where two parties are at each other’s throats,” New York Republican strategist Jay Townsend told the Washington Examiner.
Jeffries and the president have only occasionally crossed paths publicly, such as Trump’s joint addresses to Congress and last year’s inauguration.
The pair’s one in-person meeting came last year during negotiations to avert a government shutdown in September. The meeting was fruitless, with both sides pointing fingers at each other for the failure to reach a deal.
At the time, Jeffries told reporters that “significant differences” remained, while Vice President JD Vance said “the American people are going to suffer because these guys won’t do the right thing.”
Still, while that meeting failed to yield a deal, Townsend said if Democrats take control of the House, Trump and Jeffries will “have a government to run, and they’re going to have to cooperate on some things.”
“Trump’s going to want certain things that requires Democratic votes, and at some point he’s got to work with Jeffries, or whoever is there,” Townsend continued.
New York-based Democratic strategist Jon Reinish told the Washington Examiner that Jeffries is a “scrappy fighter from Brooklyn, something like that is not going to rattle his cool.”
“Ironically, the more that Trump attacks him, that confers power as an adversary on Jeffries, which is actually good politics for him,” Reinish said.
In some ways, the strained relationship between Trump and a top Democrat is par for the course. Trump also had a difficult relationship with Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) during his first term. In 2020, after Trump concluded his joint address, Pelosi tore up her copy of the speech, following the president’s refusal to shake her hand.
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“The manifesto of mistruths presented in page after page of the address tonight should be a call to action for everyone who expects truth from the President and policies worthy of his office and the American people,” Pelosi said in a statement following the 2020 address.
The Washington Examiner has reached out to Jeffries’s office for comment.
