Trump White House reportedly sought to put Pelosi 'in her place'

I missed this story but it is not surprising.






Trump White House reportedly sought to put Pelosi ‘in her place’

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/trump-white-house-reportedly-sought-put-pelosi-her-place




01/18/19 09:20 AM By Steve Benen

One of the most striking aspects of Donald Trump’s petty decision to cancel House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s trip to Afghanistan is the degree to which it was lacking in any sense of proportionality. The president and his team were bothered that the California Democrat had raised security concerns about the upcoming State of the Union address.

In response, Trump decided to scrap a long-planned secret trip in which congressional leaders – including the chairs of the House Intelligence and Foreign Affairs Committees – who were set to visit with American troops stationed abroad, while receiving briefings on the status of an ongoing war.

It’s hard to imagine any fair-minded observer making the case that these are two comparable.

So why did this happen? According to a striking New York Times report, the West Wing wanted to put Pelosi “in her place.”

White House officials – including Mick Mulvaney, the acting chief of staff – had been irked by Ms. Pelosi’s invocation of security concerns as her premise for urging Mr. Trump to move his speech, and sought to put her in her place after she had emphasized that she represented a coequal branch in governing, according to aides who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe internal discussions.

Depriving Ms. Pelosi of an aircraft was the easiest way to remind her, they said. So Mr. Trump made a play for dominance and one-upmanship…. White House aides were tickled by the move, even as some acknowledged that Republican House members might fear for their own trips going forward.
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