Washington (CNN) There's no spinning what happened in Washington on Friday: Donald Trump caved to Nancy Pelosi -- and a compromise to reopen the government was struck.

The bigger question is how. How, after 3+ years of Trump running roughshod on the political process, did Pelosi, the newly installed speaker of the House, beat him at his own game?

The answer is remarkably simple: She said "no." And stuck to it.

Pelosi, from the start, insisted that neither she nor any Democrats would cooperate with any negotiation that sought to leverage a government shutdown for Trump to try to secure the $5.7 billion he wanted for a border wall.

The key to saying something so definitive is a) sticking to it and b) enforcing it. There was never a peep from any House Democrat that they should make concessions on the wall to Trump. Not any meaningful dissent. For 35 days of a shutdown.