They have shown a penchant for doing exactly that. The Whitehouse is literally in shambles. People need to stop acting like anything they say or do would ever be in good faith.
That's literally exactly what has happened. This is the US without reconstruction. Lincoln might have actually done something but Johnson, the piece of shit racist that he was, basically shrugged off the war and pretended everything was all better. The south, full of hateful racist traitors, has been a festering rotting cancerous wound on the nation since then.
And despite his knowledge and experience, chose to join the haphazard mission in pursuit of something he apparently valued more than the risks. So it sounds like he made a very clear choice and was dealt the expected hand from said choice.
To be fair, it is the result of domestic terrorism. But pretty much the opposite of the way she means.