Part of the mess was caused by lack of preparation on our end for the influx of travelers returning, and part of it was due to Trump's inability to read the damn script in front of him (and I'm assuming here it was even in the script). By announcing he was banning ALL travel from Europe to the U.S., and leaving out the part about except for citizens and permanent legal residents, he created a frenzy of returnees within a 2-day period that jammed the flights and overwhelmed the airports. If he had just led off with, citizens and permanent legal residents can return at any time and that will not change, the surge would have been lessened.
An interesting part of the WaPo story was that even Trump's travel ban from China was so late that it was not really his doing: two major airlines had already announced they were going to suspend their flights; United had decided to do so but was last to announce and said they'd hold up and let Trump announce the ban if he would do it quickly, which he did within hours.
An interesting part of the WaPo story was that even Trump's travel ban from China was so late that it was not really his doing: two major airlines had already announced they were going to suspend their flights; United had decided to do so but was last to announce and said they'd hold up and let Trump announce the ban if he would do it quickly, which he did within hours.