Chris Matthews: Trump Made Pelosi, Schumer Look Like 'Fools'
MSBNC commentator Chris Matthews made it clear last week that while he did not approve of President Donald Trump’s decision to deny Democrats a military flight to Brussels and Afghanistan, it was an effective tactic.
Matthews said the nation “looks bad” because of the president’s “cheap shot” at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the other members of Congress planning on traveling with the California Democrat.
Trump told Pelosi he would not allow military planes to take her and her colleagues on a “seven-day excursion” while the partial federal shutdown was ongoing. Pelosi said that the group considered flying to Afghanistan by commercial airliner but then canceled the trip altogether
Matthews made his comments Thursday on his show “Hardball.” The comments were also reported in The Washington Times and by Fox News.
“(Democrats) were in the bus heading to Joint Base Edward Andrews,” Matthews said. “(Trump) made them look like fools sitting in the Capitol at the driveway basically trying to figure out what’s coming next.
“He caught them in the act as if they were sneaking out of town and made them look stupid. I mean, it clearly, well, it looked like a political dirty trick to me,” he said.
Trump had supporters on social media.
None of them should be allowed to use Government equipment until they do their jobs . The open borders democrats should suffer for not doing their jobs and shouldn’t be paid a dime until they do what’s right. https://t.co/ATYBtcIkPW
— Shane Dickinson (@Dickinso11Shane) January 21, 2019
You are right about that, Nancy Pelosi looks and is a Total Fool!!! She’s way out of her League, Nancy’s way too weak to play with the Big Boys, she’s use to playing with the… https://t.co/R39qlGy16z
— The Rhinestone Lady (@therhinestonela) January 19, 2019
Pelosi later tried to claim that Trump leaked the Democrats’ plans, causing a security issue.
However, Fox News reported that the trip was never going to be shrouded in secrecy. It said that State Department officials in Kabul recommended in a cable that the trip be canceled.
” … (T)he cable cited Afghan media reporting about the president’s suggestion to fly commercially. The cable, according to sources, noted the delegation had requested authorization to purchase 17 tickets over unclassified systems and advised that their travel would not be a secret. Urging her to postpone, the cable also noted that because few airlines fly into Kabul, their arrival time would also be easy to predict,” Fox News reported.
Pelosi’s conduct was ridiculed by commentator Roger Kimball in an opinion piece published by the New York Post.
Kimball wrote that the American public “while not wild about the shutdown, is also disgusted by the patent refusal of Congress to do its duty and negotiate in good faith.”
“The president reminded us of this when he wrote a letter to Nancy Pelosi informing her that her planned trip to Afghanistan on military transport had been postponed since the government was laboring under the shutdown. He noted that she was, of course, free to ‘fly commercial’ — delicious, that — but said that her proper place was back in Washington at the negotiating table. That, my friends, was a brilliant example of the art of the deal, the section on ‘How to Punish Renegades,’ in action,” Kimball wrote.
Democrats campaigned on working within Washington and “getting things done!” How is that working out? #2020TAKEBACKTHEHOUSE
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 21, 2019
“Trump is playing hardball. The Democrats are not used to that. It would be a good thing for us all if they stopped acting like petulant children and started taking the commonweal of the country to heart, instead of performing for their dwindling and disgusted constituency,” Kimball added.
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