The National Governors Association has always been a useful bipartisan gathering. But not anymore, as toddler Trump has excluded Democratic governors from White House events this month.
The NGA says said it will no longer hold a formal meeting with Trump when they convene in D.C in a few weeks, after the White House planned to invite only Republican governors. On Tuesday, 18 Democratic governors announced they would boycott the traditional White House dinner.
(Just an aside: Imagine what it's like, being the White House chief of protocol, trying to organize an event these days. "No, he just said mean things about me." Or "she criticized my tariffs.")
Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, a Republican who currently chairs the NGA, told fellow governors in a letter on Monday that the White House intended to limit invitations to the association’s annual business meeting to Republican governors only.
“Because NGA’s mission is to represent all 55 governors, the Association is no longer serving as the facilitator for that event, and it is no longer included in our official program,” Stitt wrote in the letter, which was obtained by The Associated Press.
The governors’ group is one of the few remaining venues where political leaders from both major parties have useful discussions about dealing with their most pressing issues, but you know, tantrums.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said yesterday that Trump has “discretion to invite anyone he wants to the White House. It’s the people’s house,” she said. “It’s also the president’s home, so he can invite whomever he wants to dinners and events here at the White House.”
I think she means "exclude" anyone he wants, because fuck decency, especially when it's for something useful and bipartisan. But hats off to the NGA for standing together. The White House press corps could learn from their example.
