Ben Shapiro on Democrats' 'deeply cynical play' and how Trump should have responded

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Ben Shapiro laid out how he believes President Trump could have achieved a better "political outcome" after his contentious face-off with top Democrats Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer.

Shapiro said Thursday that House Speaker Pelosi, D-Calif., and other Democrats are trying to create an image that Trump is "impeachable" without actually pursuing impeachment in the House.

"Democrats are not interested in impeachment because they can read the polls just like everyone else can," he said on his daily podcast.

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Shapiro said it's a "deeply cynical play" by Democrats, who are trying to portray Trump as acting strangely and "volatile."

Pelosi said Wednesday that she "prays" for the president and the country after Trump cut short a meeting on infrastructure over what he called "phony investigations" by House Democrats.

Shapiro scoffed at the notion that Pelosi "gets on her knees every night and prays for the president."

"Yeah, I'm sure that's a thing that's real," he added.

Trump hit back Thursday, calling Pelosi a "mess" during a news conference at the White House. Pelosi then said she would work with Trump when he starts acting "more presidential," mocking Trump for referring to himself as an "extremely stable genius."

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Shapiro said Trump's anger at Democrats is justified, but his poll numbers remain low for a sitting president.

He noted a new Monmouth University poll showing just 37 percent of voters believe Trump should be re-elected, while 60 percent prefer a new president.

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He argued that Trump's "best move" would have been to call out Democrats for their partisan rhetoric and "unjustified" accusations and appear "above the fray" by still working with them on infrastructure.

"It now appears the president is holding infrastructure hostage in order to get them to end investigations into him personally, which is exactly what Democrats wanted him to do. I think the president did, politically, walk into a trap," said Shapiro, adding that if Trump were to show "magnanimity in the face if cruelty," it could be a winning strategy.