Of course he said this, immediately after winning the election. It’s what those of us who can’t be swayed by party affiliation have been saying, from the very beginning of his candidacy.

A new Politico report tells of the discussion between the newly elected President Trump and liberal House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, the morning after the election.

It went down like this:

Pelosi called Trump at Trump Tower on November 9, 2016, in order to congratulate him on his win.

“I think we’ll get things done,” Trump told her.

I’m sure she just wanted to make a quick, obligatory call, touch base, then retreat to some safe, calm space, in order to wrestle with the surreal events of the previous night, and waking to a world where a reality TV buffoon was the president-elect of our nation.

Nope. Trump wanted to talk.

“I know what you do,” Trump told her. “You’re somebody that gets things done, better than anybody.”

Better than anybody? Really?

“Don’t forget, I was a supporter of yours, a good one,” Trump said toward the end of the conversation, recalling his history as a reliable Democratic donor, according to a transcript provided by a person familiar with the call. “I think you’re terrific. That was in my developer life, my business life.”

That’s for all you Trump loyalists, who’ve convinced yourself that Trump has spent his life as an icon of conservative virtues.

Nope. He was a full-on supporter of all things liberal Democrat, and became a Republican of convenience, in order to up his brand, through the manipulation of gullible, reality TV-soaked brains.

It worked, and so prideful are his loyalists, that they’d rather go deaf than hear that they were conned.

Sure, they got a decent SCOTUS pick out of it. Thank goodness for the list that Trump eenie-meenie-miney-moed from to get Gorsuch. That doesn’t mean we’re not still stuck with an elitist, Manhattan liberal as our “Republican” president.

Want proof that give the right situation and the promise of media love, Trump won’t go full Democrat? Look no further than his September betrayal, as he jumped readily, happily in bed with Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, leaving Republican lawmakers looking like fools.

That’s the deal where Trump rolled Hurricane Harvey relief in with the debt ceiling hike, as well as the Democrat-demanded DACA protections for the illegal “Dreamers” program.

The story Pelosi tells of how the agreement was struck is that, sitting on the couches in the Oval Office, she interrupted a monologue from Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, turned to Trump and said that while Mnuchin may know business and finance, in Washington, the “currency of the realm” is votes. Republican leaders couldn’t promise they would deliver their members. Pelosi knew she could deliver hers. She wasn’t up for a debate or a negotiation over how long to set the government funding deal for.

“It was a question of when they would agree. We were in a no-lose situation,” she told me. “‘Goodbye—call us when you have the votes.’ Not that we weren’t courteous.”

Trump agreed. Pelosi and Schumer walked out with a handshake on their opening bid, to make a deal for three months instead of 18—forcing the Republicans to confront the mess again in December—and without any concessions. Republicans were aghast. Democrats were confused, unaccustomed to the idea that they could win anymore. And the groundwork was laid for another dinner the following week, when the two Democratic leaders went over to the White House for Chinese food, and again walked out claiming victory, this time to preserve protections for Dreamers, immigrants brought to the United States illegally as minors. (The White House initially denied the deal, though the president himself later backed it up.)

On their opening bid.

No negotiations.

Two liberal senators ask for it, and Trump hands it over.

But, he’s always supported both.

The media coverage in those two weeks was ecstatic, and the president, of course, was paying close attention. The morning after the debt ceiling deal, he called Pelosi to gloat about how great it looked on TV. “You and Chuck are getting raves,” Trump said. “I would say your other two friends aren’t doing as well as you,” he added, referring to the congressional leadership in Trump’s own party, House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Soon afterward, Pelosi became maybe the only person in history who can rightfully claim to have controlled Trump’s Twitter feed: On her suggestion, she said, Trump tapped out a reassurance to Dreamers that they shouldn’t fear being deported.

And that’s the bottom line. He’s a reality TV star and a clown. He has no mooring in principle.

You know, principle. That thing those who opposed Trump from the beginning have fought so hard to cling to, and tend to be roundly reviled over, by those who see principle as an impediment, rather than a virtue.

The Politico piece goes on to stroke the genius of Pelosi, often vilified by her own party, but a hero, just the same.

Yeah. I can do without all that nonsense.

As it is, our politics have become enough of a sideshow.