Prior to the election, there was speculation that President Trump wanted Republicans to lose the House in order to ensure his 2020 re-election by running against the crazy House Dems, led by Nancy Pelosi, whose verbal inartfulness is already legendary.  On the campaign trail, he warned his supporters about the dangers of a Pelosi speakership, but I am pretty sure he recognizes in her the possibilities for deal-making.  Support for that hypothesis comes from the congratulatory call he made to her last night, and from his tweet this morning endorsing her for Speaker.

In all fairness, Nancy Pelosi deserves to be chosen Speaker of the House by the Democrats. If they give her a hard time, perhaps we will add some Republican votes. She has earned this great honor!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 7, 2018

While there is certainly an element of trolling here, Trump is also likely to want to deal with another experienced deal-maker. Pelosi is a lot smarter than she sounds, and knows how to strike a bargain. She also understands that impeaching Trump (or Justice Kavanaugh) would be suicidal for the Democrats. Last night, she told PBS that impeachment “is not what our caucus is about”:

"For those who want impeachment, that's not what our caucus is about," House Minority Leader @NancyPelosi tells @JudyWoodruff. pic.twitter.com/KJksuVATQU

— PBS NewsHour (@NewsHour) November 6, 2018

I already look forward to the intra-party conflict ahead for the Democrats as the impeachment-crazed haters run up against the party establishment. I would not rule out her gaining the speakership with GOP votes. Trump knows that the aging establishment versus the new generation radical crazies (Alexandria Occasional-Cortex, for example) is a fault line that he can exploit.