President Donald Trump, 74, threw and monkey wrench into the Dec. 9 stimulus bill where GOP lawmakers agreed to $600 direct payments, half of the $1,200 in the $2.2 trillion March 27 CARES Act. Trump doesn’t get that he’s on his way out and has no more clout to Capitol Hill Republicans even less with Democrats. When it came to the $900 billion HEALS Act stimulus bill, no one got what they wanted, certainly not Democrats who proposed the May 27 $3.4 trillion HEROES Act, that went nowhere for months until the Dec. 9 HEALS Act. While there’s plenty of pork in the HEALS Act, Trump’s not in a position to negotiate anything. Trump didn’t like all the Democrats’ pet projects and especially the billions spent on foreign aid for Latin America. But unlike before the election, Trump has lost all his clout, not that 78-year-old President-elect Joe Biden takes over Jan. 20, 2020.
Letting the extended unemployment compensation run out Dec. 26 causes more pain for 12 million unemployed Americans, struggling to make ends meet. Trump’s demand to increase the direct payment from $600 to $2,000 was a non-starter, no matter how much cash goes to Latin American aid. Since losing the Nov. 3 election, Trump has spent much of his time claiming election fraud, losing all of his legal challenges in battleground state courts. When the Electoral College met to certify the election for Biden Dec. 6, Trump should have got the message that his days are numbered. Now Trump looks for a Hail Mary Jan 6, 2021 in Congress when they certify the Electoral College results, a pure formality. No matter how bad the latest stimulus bill, it’s the best his party would approve with Democrats, giving the $1.4 trillion omnibus-spending bill to keep the government funded until September 2021.
Trump’s so far out the picture he’s clearly lashing out at the inevitable Jan. 20, 2021. At this point, it’s doubtful he’ll attend Biden’s inauguration, even if it’s on Zoom Conferencing, holding onto his belief the election was rigged. Instead to giving Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.) and Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.) as shot on holding onto the Senate Jan. 5, Trump’s erratic actions on the stimulus could turn Senate control back to Democrats, making Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-.N.Y.) Senate Majority Leader. Trump thinks he’s still got clout as president, not realizing his Senate colleagues have moved on. “What the president is doing right now is unbelievably cruel,” said Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), one of Trump’s biggest critics. “So many people are hurting . . . it is really insane and this president has got to finally . . . do the right thing for the American people and stop worrying about his ego.”
Trump’s more consumed with his long list of commutations and pardons, than whether unemployed workers get their extended unemployment compensation. Trump’s misgiving about the new stimulus bill doesn’t mean that he has any influence left to change the outcome. Once Trump realizes that his party has moved on, he’ll probably wind up signing the bill, if, for no other reason, to refocus his efforts on more pardons in the next four weeks. When it comes to domestic or foreign policy, there’s little Trump can do now, other that watch from the sidelines. “We’ve got a bill right now that his administration helped negotiate,” said Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.). “I think we ought to get that done,” urging the president to let go and sign it. Trump’s party in the Senate made many concessions to Democrats to get the $900 billions stimulus bill knowing that another $1.4 trillion was needed to keep the government running.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said she would convene a vote for Trump’s request on a stand-alone legislation to increase direct payments to $2,000. Whether he gets the vote or not, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has no intent of changing the new bill, negotiated with the help of Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin. Trump’s run out of capital to change anything between now and the inauguration. Signing the bill gets Trump nothing but he gives extended unemployment compensation to 12 million unemployed workers. “I don’t get the point,” said Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.). “I don’t understand what’s being done, why, unless it’s just to create chaos and show power and be upset because you lost the election,” Kinzinger said, baffled why Trump won’t sign. In Trump’s mind, he’d rather kick the can down the road to Biden for Jan. 20, 2021.
Trump’s run out of bullets, no longer able to influence the outcome on key pieces of legislation. With four weeks left on his term, Trump can still do damage to the GOP hanging onto the Senate by a thread. But with voters watching carefully Trump refusal to sign the stimulus bill may be enough to tilt the Georgia runoff election to Democrats, handing booting out Mitch McConnell. When you consider Trump’s anger after four years of harassment by the FBI and intel agencies on the Russian hoax, he may feel he’d like to get rid of McConnell, who congratulated Biden Dec. 16 on becoming President-elect. While it’s still possible Trump will sign the stimulus bill, it wouldn’t surprise anyone to see him lash out. With only the pardon power left, Trump could still make history pardoning National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden and possibly WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
