Donald Trump is spending his final Christmas as President at his Palm Beach golf club with Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), while millions of starving Americans unemployed due to the coronavirus pandemic desperately wait to see if he will sign the COVID-19 relief bill.
If Trump does not sign the legislation by the end of Saturday 14 million people will loose unemployment benefits, and the $600 checks promised to most Americans by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will not be sent. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin promised the checks would begin to be in the mail, or sent via direct deposit, this coming week.
“Trump heads off for golf on Christmas Day with Lindsey Graham as president complains stimulus bill flown to Mar-a-Lago contains too much ‘pork’ after he demanded Congress give Americans $2K checks,” is the headline over at the Daily Mail.
There’s video (below) of Trump with Graham in the presidential limo, which arrived at Trump’s golf resort at 9:57 AM. Trump left the club at 2:05 PM.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had immediately rushed to support Trump’s call for the $600 checks to be bumped up to $2000, which Democrats had been pushing for for months. Republicans in the House and Senate quickly killed the move.
“Families on brink of eviction, hunger describe nightmare Christmas as $900 billion relief bill hangs in limbo,” The Washington Post reported late Christmas Eve.
There are massive repercussions if Trump either vetoes the bill, which he has repeatedly threatened to do, or issues a “pocket veto,” meaning he allows it to expire without his signature, effectively vetoing it.
The federal government will shut down at midnight Monday if Trump does not sign the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), an annual funding bill. Trump is demanding the legislation include an amendment voiding Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. He thinks if that portion of the CDA is gone social media companies will be forced to remove content critical of him. In reality they would likely shut down his social media accounts for spreading false information they would then be held liable for.
“Maybe nothing better could be expected in a year that saw denial and delusion, led by President Donald Trump, presage a wave of illness and death coupled with evictions, bankruptcies, hunger and ruined livelihoods,” CNN’s Kevin Liptak wrote Christmas Day.
Here’s Trump and Graham earlier today: