When Donald Trump announced that he would not allow Nancy Pelosi to leave for her scheduled trip to Afghanistan, Egypt, and Brussels to meet with NATO allies and visit the troops, the White House insisted it wasn’t a petty move. Trump meant what he said in the letter he sent to give Speaker Pelosi the news, that she shouldn’t be allowed to go because those tasked with her security aren’t being paid during the shutdown. After all, that’s the same reason Pelosi had for requesting that Trump postpone his State of the Union address.
Spoiler alert: it was petty.
According to CNBC:
‘Shortly after [Trump] took that action, his wife boarded a government jet bound for Palm Beach, Fla., CNN reported. The president’s Mar-a-Lago resort is located in Palm Beach.’
EXEC1F – #MelaniaForceOne climbing out from Joint Base Andrews
?? US Air Force
C-32A 98-0001 https://t.co/BlmOXELhxJ pic.twitter.com/kgGWuEiiGV— CivMilAir ✈ (@CivMilAir) January 17, 2019
Proving once again that she’ll do anything to get away from her husband, with no regard for maintaining his reputation with his voters, Melania Trump left the White House for a vacation in Mar-a-Lago on Thursday afternoon. Trump may have suggested that Pelosi could fly commercial if she wanted to fly, but Melania sure didn’t. She took a government jet and extra Secret Service security, not one member of whom is currently being paid for their work.
President @realDonaldTrump’s letter to @SpeakerPelosi concerning her upcoming travel pic.twitter.com/TtBCvwp080
— Sarah Sanders (@PressSec) January 17, 2019
Trump even canceled a trip planned by Education Secretary Betsy Devos to preserve the image that he, like the Democratic Speaker of the House, cares whether or not he’s forcing people to work without pay. His wife, however, really doesn’t care about his image. Do you?
Her plane was first spotted by POLITICO reporter Jake Sherman, who heard the code names used for the first lady’s plane over air traffic control. She was headed to Palm Beach, Florida.
I am listening to air traffic control
EXEC1F appears to be headed to Palm Beach. ATC just said they will have to do some serious vectoring to get the plane in line with the rest of the Palm Beach traffic.
EXEC1F is typically the callsign for a plane with the first lady on it.
— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) January 17, 2019
Meanwhile, Trump’s pettiness toward Pelosi was used for fund-raising efforts, as The Daily Beast reports that Trump sent out an email blast to supporters with the subject “I’m disinvited?”
‘Democrats have illegitimately ‘disinvited’ me from making my scheduled and VERY important State of the Union Address. Americans DEMAND the truth, so we need to make a CLEAR STATEMENT and raise $1,OOO,OOO by Midnight TONIGHT to show your support for Border Security (the REAL security concern).’
Melania Trump is using a government jet to fly to Mar a Lago right now https://t.co/hP3LRFQsG7
— Carmen (@CiCi77) January 18, 2019
Featured image via Flickr by Ospedale Pediatrico Bambino Gesu under a Creative Commons license
