During the Christmas weekend, he was the only one who was able to prevent the government from closing on Tuesday, which would allow millions of Americans who had been laid off to receive unemployment benefits again and prevent another economic disaster in the coming days.
But his signature on Sunday night came too late to prevent the return of his unemployment benefit.
The delay in signing the package, whereby it is not approved until after the damage, is the latest example of Mr Trump’s increasingly erratic behaviour in the last days of his administration.
This delay – caused by Trump’s late displeasure at the level of direct wages paid to Americans, his annoyance at Republican leaders in the Senate and the showman’s tendency to let people guess – also brought the government to the brink of foreclosure in less than 30 hours.
Throughout the weekend, instead of declaring himself, Mr. Trump showed restraint and focused primarily on trying to challenge his electoral defeats to defy death, rather than taking action to alleviate the nation’s misery.
He remained secretly in Florida and made several visits to the golf course that bears his name without revealing his intentions. His best lieutenants, who may have made their honest boss lose some clarity, were on vacation on their own weekends: Vice President Mike Pence on the ski slopes in Vail and Finance Minister Steven Mnuchin on the beaches of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.
Even before the bill was signed, Mr. Trump seemed more concerned with creating tension than with alleviating American concerns.
Apparently aware of the mess he was making, Mr Trump’s statement then seemed to save his face. He insisted that one of his compromises at the signing of the bill was that legislators agreed to focus strongly on the very important electoral fraud that occurred during the three-year presidential elections. November happened – a promise that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell did not mention in his own statement, praising Trump’s decision to sign the bill. There is no evidence of widespread electoral fraud that Trump lost to President-elect Joe Biden.
On leaving the office, Mr Trump wants to use – or, in this case, limit – his executive power to punish his rivals, divert attention from his loss and ensure he remains in the limelight, even as a crippled duck.
It has been more erratic than at any other time in his presidency, and councillors told CNN on Sunday that although they urged Mr Trump to approve the bailout, they could not say with certainty how he would proceed.
Fault! The file name is not specified.
It’s a scenario that causes even more turmoil in the last days of his mandate. His bitter relations with Republicans in the Senate, his declining confidence in his administrative assistants, and his dependence on a new circle of conspirators all contribute to a feeling that Trump is leaving office under very unstable circumstances. He would stay at his club in Florida for a few more days and return to Washington at the beginning of the new year to renew his unsuccessful attempts to make the elections fail, including its ratification by Electoral College in 6th place. January, apparently in the mistaken belief that Trump can stop his allies.
Playing the old game of exchange…. I don’t understand. Congressman Adam Kinzinger, an Illinois Republican, told CNN hours before Trump signed the bill. I do not understand what is being done, why, unless it is to create chaos, to show power and to get angry because you lost the election.
The trump card rolls on Bill.
A week ago, the prospect of a government summit and an end to unemployment benefits between Christmas and New Year seemed a long way off. Both houses of Congress adopted the package by an overwhelming majority, and it was clear in the White House that Trump would sign it. The lawmakers are out of town.
But nobody really seemed to have a connection with Trump – or if they did, they weren’t careful enough to understand exactly what they were getting into. Even after Mr. Trump released a video claiming that the direct controls in the bill were too weak and complaining about unrelated expenditure (which was in fact included in the attached government funding mechanism), no one seemed to have an answer to the question of how he would proceed.
It should have happened eight months ago, or at least eight days ago, not after they finally reached an agreement, Larry Hogan, a Republican from Maryland and frequent critic of Trump, said Sunday about the state of the Union.
On Christmas Eve, the Mar-a-Lago staff prepared for Trump to sign a package by setting up a small table and pens in one of the club’s ballrooms. But the plan was abandoned at the last minute, two sources who knew the circumstances told the CNN.
Fault! The file name is not specified.
On Sunday, while preparing dinner on a nearby golf course, Trump offered to point out his threatening move, but even kept his circle of advisors in the dark about his intentions.
Good news about the Covid Relief Bill. Role-playing information! He writes.
In the end it turned out that Trump had actually signed the measure after consultation with the republican leaders. In a subsequent statement, Mr Trump stated that he had received concessions from the legislator.
The Senate will begin a mediation process that will bring the checks up to $2,000. The U.S. State Department will repeal Section 230 and begin investigating election fraud, he wrote.
He also said he would use the executive branch to remove what he considers to be pork from the state’s financing account – although he has proposed similar figures in his budget this year.
I will return a revised version to Congress, clause by clause, with a formal request for revocation sent to Congress requesting the removal of these funds from the account, Trump wrote. Don’t expect his demands to go anywhere.
McConnell praised Trump in his own retrospective statement, but did not mention the asset Trump. Nevertheless, he congratulated Mr Trump on providing the economic support as soon as possible – a ridiculous compliment given the time it took Mr Trump to sign the package.
Following Mr Trump’s signing of the bill, a senior White House official expressed his disappointment that Mr Trump had succumbed to his request for more encouragement by signing an agreement.
It’s especially funny to see Trump turning away from his coronavirus outbreak and complaining that everyone is turning away from his re-election. Why would a supporter fight for him when he’d stop giving over $600? A senior official told CNN.
Confusing occupancy
At other times during Mr Trump’s chairmanship, the work of the chocolate staff and disruptions of communication caused avoidable inconveniences. At worst, the government’s incompetence has contributed to unnecessary illness and death in a pandemic that now claims one in a thousand lives in the United States.
But never before have the board’s twisted internal procedures failed in a way that threatened to cripple the entire government, and millions of Americans were denied unemployment benefits that seemed to be guaranteed just days earlier.
The fact that even in the hours leading up to the bill no one on Mr Trump’s team could say exactly what he would do or when he would do it is indicative of a style of government that relies more on chaos and scoring points than anything calculated.
This weekend in Mar-a-Lago and at his nearby golf club, Trump didn’t seem to be worried about imminent legislation, according to those who spoke to him. After the fall, Mr. Trump returned to his original complaints that he did not pay the Americans enough and saddled them with unreasonable costs.
It was rather Trump – the lost election and the bottomless pit of anger that he now directs at his Republicans, whom he says abandoned him in his hour of need.
Trump doesn’t believe he owes McConnell anything now that the Kentucky Republican has accepted Biden’s victory – far less than his support for the coronavirus rescue plan his own government accepted.
Last week, the president also vetoed a defense law known as the National Defense Authorization Act, although it was supported by Republicans and Democrats. Part of his opposition is due to the fact that the bill does not lift liability protection for technology companies – something Trump criticises the Democrats who support it.
This decision created what could have been the first veto for Trump’s presidency and set the members of his own party against him. The House will vote on Monday to reject the veto, and the Senate will come back later in the week if the vote is positive.
But just as Mr. Trump’s initial reluctance to sign Covid’s benefit will cause suffering not to Republican lawmakers but to average Americans, if the NDAA doesn’t become law, it will be American troops and their families who will be denied the wage increases, jeopardy pay and parental leave provided for in the bill.
People affected by the pandemic have little time to play.
I have a feeling this doesn’t affect people like me. I honestly think we’re fighting and they have no idea what it is, said Lilly Raine of Asheville, North Carolina, whose dog walking business has been destroyed by closures that mean dog owners are going home to take care of their pets. It was a lot to deal with. Basically, my daily life has disappeared for me, and most of my daily life now consists of sitting at home waiting for it to be over.
Arguing for an increase in direct payments is a good thing, Raine said, but not at the expense of what has been agreed.
Honestly, just give us $600. We can fight for more later, she told the CNN newsroom.
Right now I can pay off two accounts/part of my credit card debt with $600, so the interest won’t kill me in 2021. I just want to pass on something. There are people like my mother who need it.
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