I do not think the press understands just how incredibly wrong it is that Donald Trump, in a fit of pique over dwindling support for his government shutdown, not only took Speaker Nancy Pelosi's military transport to Afghanistan away, but also leaked the delegation's plans to travel on commercial flights.
It's hard to see how that act was anything other than an intentional effort to threaten and endanger elected officials because a petulant, angry man in the White House needed some revenge.
Pelosi took the high road, suggesting it was inexperience and not intentional, though she noted that the "people around him" should have known better. We all know that's just a way to throw shade, right?
Pelosi said they were traveling to thank the troops and get a sense of what the situation was in Afghanistan for themselves. Donald Trump has been president for two years and hasn't gone to Afghanistan yet. The closest he got was Iraq, presumably because he is afraid to travel in war zones.
About his letter canceling her military plane, she said, “It was kind of a funny letter saying seven days — somebody didn’t tell him it was a quick weekend trip, but nonetheless, that served his purpose."
"Not only that, but we had the prerogative to travel commercial and we made plans to do that until the administration leaked we were traveling commercially and that endangers us," she continued, making her point with a velvet glove.
“We weren’t going to go because we had a report from Afghanistan that the president outing our trip had made the scene on the ground much more dangerous, because it’s just a signal to the bad actors that we’re coming,” she continued. “You never give advance notice of going into a battle area. You just never do.”
“We weren’t going to go because we had a report from Afghanistan that the president outing our trip had made the scene on the ground much more dangerous, because it’s just a signal to the bad actors that we’re coming,” she told reporters. “You never give advance notice of going into a battle area. You just never do.”
That is a no-brainer. It's why Donald Trump won't go. It's dangerous and scary and if you don't do it with utmost secrecy you may as well write a death warrant for those travelers.
I would like the media to begin to emphasize in a serious way that the so-called "President" just tried to kill the Speaker of the House and a delegation accompanying her so he could score some points in a tweet.
Get on it, reporters. Stop framing this as anything other than a vicious attempt to do real harm to his political opposition.
