On Tuesday night, Trump posted a video to Twitter (shocker) asking Congress to amend the nearly $900 billion covid-19 relief bill passed by the Senate on Monday (also a shocker). In it, Trump called the legislation “a disgrace,” specifically asking for the $600 stimulus checks to be increased to $2,000, and identifying a list of provisions that he called “wasteful spending and much more” (okay, this one was actually a shocker).
What’s the saying… even an idiotic fascist clock is right once a day?
However, Trump declined to mention that the idea for the $600 stimulus check came from Steven Mnuchin, Trump’s own treasury secretary (I’m back to not being shocked).
It’s never clear whether Trump’s political threats are real or just partisan posturing he doesn’t intend to follow through on, but if he refuses to sign the covid-19 relief bill, the government will shut down on December 29th. In that case, the $900 billion piece of legislation, which is also responsible for funding a variety of other government spending, would be frozen.
In a statement he made in the video, Trump also implied once again that he would not be leaving office willingly.
“I am also asking Congress to immediately get rid of the wasteful and unnecessary items from this legislation, and to send me a suitable bill, or else the next administration will have to deliver a covid relief package, and maybe that administration will be me.”
At this point, Trump’s offhand comments threatening a coup come off as more delusional than ominous, but it’s still concerning to hear that the sitting President of the United States has not decided whether he will go quietly.
Democratic Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi shared Trump’s video on Tuesday evening, voicing the Democrats support for raising the stimulus checks to $2,000.
One official said that Trump had long wanted to make the stimulus checks larger than $600, and reportedly asked Republican aides why Congress couldn’t agree to a bigger number. But when Trump released the video on Tuesday evening, a number of his staffers—including his chief of staff—were already out of town for the holiday.
“So dumb,” one administration official told the Washington Post. “So, so dumb.”