Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) reminded Trump exactly whose house he would be entering for his upcoming State of the Union address when she requested that he either postpone it until after the shutdown has ended or give it in writing, which was once the tradition. On Thursday, Donald Trump got his petty revenge by placing Pelosi’s safety in danger.
President @realDonaldTrump’s letter to @SpeakerPelosi concerning her upcoming travel pic.twitter.com/TtBCvwp080
— Sarah Sanders (@PressSec) January 17, 2019
The shutdown battle has continued since December 22, 2018, making it the longest shutdown in history at 27 days. When Pelosi refused to give Trump a platform in the House of Representatives to deliver his address, she did so because of security issues since the officials who provide that security are part of the 800,000 workers currently furloughed or not being paid.
In return, Trump compromised Pelosi’s security be revealing her plans to visit nations with active war zones, countries where she is unable to fly commercial because of the security issues involved.
"We ought to just cut through the bottom line and Nancy Pelosi ought to invite Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh to give the State of the Union. They're the people who are going to decide when the government opens again…. "- @RonaldKlain w/ @NicolleDWallace pic.twitter.com/9y0Vc6b0ub
— Deadline White House (@DeadlineWH) January 17, 2019
The standoff does not appear to be reaching any viable end as 800,000 federal workers struggle to make ends meet without being paid. Instead of working on solutions that don’t include five billion dollars in taxpayer funding for an ineffective and unnecessary border wall, Trump is choosing petty arguments with the Speaker that get us no closer to a resolution.
While he insists that the “border crisis” is a “national emergency” that must be addressed immediately, he has yet to explain why it only became an emergency once Democrats won the House and prepared thorough investigations into his alleged collusion with Russian government operatives.
.@realDonaldTrump can prevent use of military aircraft by @SpeakerPelosi but offers that she could travel by commercial carrier which a speaker typically does not do for security.
— Kelly O'Donnell (@KellyO) January 17, 2019
The news of Trump’s plan to keep Pelosi from traveling to other countries follows his insistence, falsely, that Pelosi was partying in Puerto Rico over the Christmas break. Even Fox News’ Jeanine Pirro was forced to admit that those reports were lies.
Trump’s assertions that Pelosi’s plans now are for the purposes of “public relations” are likely false, as well. Pelosi has not yet responded to Trump’s childish move.
We have a petty, petulant president (who also demonstrates zero respect for or concern about @SpeakerPelosi's security by publicly revealing her closely-held official travel plans): pic.twitter.com/oOdCb6rqwj
— Stephen Schwartz (@AtomicAnalyst) January 17, 2019
Featured image via Flickr by House Committee on Education under a Creative Commons license
