When Nancy Pelosi boasted last week she was “worth the trouble,” even when congressional candidates were negatively tied to her, the National Republican Congressional Committee ironically sang its own praises for the House minority leader.

“We couldn’t agree more!” was all an email blast read that included a clip of Pelosi’s point of view.

That came the same day President Donald Trump tweeted he hoped Democrats “do not force Nancy P out” because it would be “very bad for the Republican Party.”

The notion of GOP campaigns using Pelosi’s unpopularity to motivate their base — and, as a result, thanking her for helping them win elections — is a tactic that has developed over a decade and half of her being in congressional leadership.

Negative ads

But for the first time in a decade, there is no Hillary Clinton in the spotlight or a Barack Obama White House, leaving Pelosi as one of the most well-known members of the party with unobstructed exposure to negative campaign rhetoric going into 2018 midterms.