Portnoy put DT in a complicated place with his 'harmless' invitation (in my humble opinion), and here's why:
If LaBrie, Myung, Petrucci and Rudess agreed and went to that cruise, the original line-up would be reunited; sparking that eternal flame within MP hardcore fans that reject Mangini in any way possible. 'THIS IS THE TRUE DT! PLS COME BACK!', I can already read comments like those if that were to happen. That would really put MM in a complicated situation.
Mike Portnoy is a clever man, and his wording of situations is a clear example of that. In this matter, as in most matters DT-related in the past few years, his tone has been the following:
I have done everything in my book to be cool with the guys and have a nice reunion, but it's not up to me anymore...the ball is in their court now...not mine...it's them, not me.
That seems sincere (and probably is) of his part, but that's not the whole part of the story. Why make his invitation to DT public? What purpose does it have? To show the fans that he's the one that's cool and that LaBrie and Myung are bitter old men who hate him? I know JR and JP love him dearly (and probably JLB and JM do as well), but they have all the right in the world to be pissed at him for all the MP drama that has lingered in their backs for the past 6 years.
And now back to my original point, now that DT has (somewhat) rejected his invitation, MP stays as the good guy; the one that wanted one little harmless performance of his 12 Suite with his original bandmates, while the other guys look bad to the eyes of the fanatics. That's why I think MP put the band in a complicated position. I love Mike Portnoy and everything he's done in progressive rock, but this feels pretty lame to me. I really think he should have someone overseeing his social media posting, because at this point I think his constant 'sincere' wording is doing him more harm than good.