Deadlock in
Washington reached a new low on Thursday as Donald Trump hit his chief
Democratic opponent Nancy Pelosi with a last-minute cancellation of her plan to
take an air force plane to Afghanistan — citing the four-week-old government
shutdown as a motive.
The mess in
Washington, where swaths of government workers are not being paid while
Congress feuds with the White House, already verged on the surreal. But now
it’s also getting increasingly personal between the two main antagonists.
In a letter
laced with sarcasm and accompanied by his dramatic signature, Trump told House
Speaker Pelosi: “I am sorry to inform you that your trip to Brussels, Egypt,
and Afghanistan has been postponed. We will reschedule this seven-day excursion
when the Shutdown is over.”
“I am sure
you would agree that postponing this public relations event is appropriate,” he
wrote.
Rubbing it
in, Trump said that Pelosi could still book her own non-government flights.
“Obviously,
if you would like to make your journey by flying commercial, that would
certainly be your prerogative,” he wrote.
The trip
cancellation followed Pelosi’s suggestion that Trump postpones his January 29
State of the Union address to Congress, or do it from the White House instead.
Although she cited the shutdown’s effect on security, she appeared to want to
deny the president one of his chief annual moments in the limelight.
The White
House denied that the travel blockage was payback, but few bought the argument.
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