Reprinted with permission from AlterNet.
President Donald Trump fired back on Thursday at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s decision to rescind his invitation to deliver the State of the Union to Congress by announcing that he is postponing travel arrangements the administration had made for her upcoming foreign trip.
Press Secretary Sarah Sanders revealed the letter on Twitter:
President @realDonaldTrump’s letter to @SpeakerPelosi concerning her upcoming travel pic.twitter.com/TtBCvwp080
— Sarah Sanders (@PressSec) January 17, 2019
In comparison to Pelosi’s bold and norm-breaking decision to essentially cancel the State of Union — a decision she blamed on security issues related to the government shutdown — Trump’s personal, targeted response just seemed petty.
“Letter to Pelosi appears to be another classic example of ‘nobody speaks for Trump but Trump,’” said MSNBC correspondent Garrett Haake. “All the reporting out of the White House had been that Trump wasn’t bothered by her SOTU letter, strategically not responding, etc etc. Now this.”
Micah Grimes, a reporter with NBC News, noted that the trip to Brussels, Egypt, and Afghanistan included travel to a U.S. war zone of one of the highest ranked government officials. Trump’s decision to expose this plan — which had largely been kept secret — was a reckless choice. He suggested that she fly “commercial” instead, an idea that is absurd on its face.
Fox News reported that Pelosi was scheduled to leave at 3:30 p.m. Thursday, meaning the president announced he was canceling the trip only an hour before she departed.
