JIVE TURKEY
• Dems storm out on Prez after ‘meltdown’ • Sez Kurds ‘no angels,’ war not my ‘problem’
President Trump unleashed a “nasty diatribe” during a Wednesday meeting on the increasingly chaotic situation in Syria, calling House Speaker Nancy Pelosi a “third-grade politician” to her face and acting in an overall “appalling” manner, Pelosi and other Democratic leaders said after they stormed out of the tense sitdown.
Speaking in the White House driveway after ditching the hostile powwow, Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Trump had suffered a “meltdown” when she pointed out that her chamber had just passed a bipartisan resolution condemning his recent withdrawal of American troops from northern Syria — a pullout that resulted in Turkey invading the region and slaughtering U.S.-allied Kurds.
“He was insulting, particularly to the speaker. She kept her cool completely, but he called her a third [grade] politician,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) told reporters, standing next to Pelosi. “This is appalling. … This was not a dialogue, it was sort of a diatribe, a nasty diatribe, not focused on the facts.”
Afterward, Pelosi insisted Trump botched the insult, calling her “thirdgrade” rather than “third-rate.”
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), who was also in the meeting and has served in Congress under the past six presidents, chimed in: “Never have I seen a president treat so disrespectfully a co-equal branch of government.”
Pelosi, whose committees are kneedeep in a rapidly developing inquiry into whether Trump should be impeached, raised concern that the president may be going off the rails mentally.
“I think now we have to pray for his health,” the speaker said. “Because this was a very serious meltdown on the part of the president.”
Republicans who were in the White House showdown confirmed things got “heated” but claimed Pelosi was at fault.
“I see a pattern of behavior with Speaker Pelosi. She storms out of another meeting, trying to make it unproductive,” House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) told reporters. “Very productive between the Democrats who actually stayed in the meeting. Unfortunately, the speaker tries to make everything political.”
It was unclear what “pattern” McCarthy was referring to, but Trump memorably stormed out of a White House meeting in May with Pelosi and Schumer, during which they were supposed to hash out a $2 trillion infrastructure plan. The president said after that meeting that he couldn’t work with Democrats until they “get these phony” oversight investigations “over with.” The House has since launched a formal impeachment probe into Trump’s Ukraine scandal.
A Democratic source briefed on the Wednesday sitdown disputed McCarthy’s characterization and told the Daily News that Trump couldn’t focus on the continuously worsening situation in Syria and instead kept lashing out against his perceived political foes.
The source said Schumer at one point tried to ask Trump about exDefense Secretary James Mattis’ comments over the weekend that an ISIS resurgence in Syria would be inevitable if the U.S. completely pulls out of the war-torn country and leaves its Kurdish allies vulnerable to Turkish attacks.
But Trump wouldn’t have it and replied by ripping the former Pentagon chief as “the world’s most overrated general,” according to the source.
“You know why?” Trump said, according to the insider. “He wasn’t tough enough. I captured ISIS. Mattis said it would take two years. I captured them in one month.”
Contradicting McCarthy again, the Democratic source said Pelosi only left the aggressive encounter after Trump kept calling her “a name.”
“He was quite nasty, so she stood up to go. She started to sit back down, but Rep. Hoyer got her to go,” the source said.
Trump tweeted pictures from the room, including one stating: “Nervous Nancy’s unhinged meltdown!” In that photo, Pelosi is seen literally standing up to Trump at a table at the White House, her finger pointed at him. Later Wednesday, she turned the photo into the banner on her Twitter page.
Schumer stayed back for a couple more minutes to ask Defense Secretary Mark Esper if there’s intelligence confirming Turkish or Syrian forces will prevent ISIS prison breaks, according to the source.
ISIS is believed to still have sleeper cells in Syria. The terrorist group has been able to regain some ground since Turkey invaded the country earlier this month after Trump cleared the way with his American troop withdrawal, forcing Kurds to retreat and leading to the escapes of some imprisoned ISIS fighters, according to reports.
In light of the U.S. pullout, Kurds have moved to seek protection from the Russia- and Iran-backed forces of brutal Syrian dictator Bashar Assad.
Trump, who says he campaigned on ending U.S. involvement in “endless wars,” first ordered a removal of American forces from the area near the Turkish-Syrian border after a phone call with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Oct. 6.
Shortly after those orders, Erdogan’s military launched a bloody military foray that has resulted in several civilian Kurdish deaths. Erdogan considers the U.S.-allied Syrian Kurds to be terrorists because of their association to PKK, a militant communist group that operates in Turkey.
Earlier Wednesday, Trump insisted he didn’t give Turkey a “green light” to invade Syria, but also insisted it wasn’t his “problem” to make sure Erdogan’s forces don’t slaughter the Kurds, who have been credited with helping the U.S. stamp out ISIS.
“It’s not our problem,” Trump said at the White House. “They’ve got a lot of sand over there. … There’s a lot of sand they can play with.”
Echoing talking points typically trumpeted by Erdogan, Trump also said the Kurds are “no angels” and “more of a terrorist threat, in many ways, than ISIS.”
Trump retaliated against the Turkish invasion he enabled by slapping sanctions on Erdogan’s energy and defense departments earlier this week.
In an apparent bid to bolster Trump’s tariff-happy tactics, the White House released a bizarre letter on Wednesday afternoon that he sent to Erdogan on Oct. 9, in which the U.S. president threatened to “destroy” Turkey’s economy if the Syria invasion wasn’t done in a “humane” way.
“Let’s work out a deal! You don’t want to be responsible for slaughtering thousands of people,” Trump wrote to Erdogan. “Don’t be a tough guy. Don’t be a fool!”
Trump capped off the letter: “I will call you later.”
Trump’s freewheeling Syria strategy has attracted plenty of Republican criticism.
In a decisive 354-to-60 vote, the House passed a resolution before Trump’s explosive White House meeting condemning his troop moves in Syria.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who’s openly criticized Trump over the Syria withdrawal, is prepping a similar resolution in his Republican-controlled chamber, a congressional aide familiar with the matter said.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, typically one of Trump’s most loyal congressional allies, made clear he would back such a measure and unloaded on Trump’s decision to abandon Kurdish allies as historically horrible.
“This is the most screwed-up decision I have seen since I have been in Congress,” the South Carolina Republican said in a Senate hearing.