Donald Trump’s own failing schemes are now betraying him
The bully known as Donald Trump backed down late Sunday and signed the stimulus bill that had been agreed upon by the House and Senate. Unfortunately, his eleventh-hour decision made little difference to many. Unemployment aid had already lapsed, and Trump’s games became a real-life consequence for Americans who now depend on unemployment to feed their families and keep roofs over their heads.
As CNN pointed out, Trump was the only person with the power to prevent this from happening, but he did nothing — purposefully did nothing. While Trump tried to snow us that he was holding out for more money, CNN put in perspective that Trump was merely playing games and seeking revenge on Republicans who refused to support his false claims of election fraud.
Trump enjoyed making the American people guess what he planned to do. He teased his plans, directly avoiding questions about his intentions. While he enjoyed his time at Mar-a-Lago, with no expense spared—he held the lives of millions of Americans in his hands, and he decided it would be a good idea to play with those lives. At the same time, Mike Pence was enjoying his ski vacation in Vail while Mnuchin lounged on the beach in Cabo. Trump’s supporters are up in arms about his election loss, yet they say nothing about the way he is playing with the American people. We can only assume none of them work, so his games are neither here nor there for them, but for millions of others, concern about having to re-apply for benefits they could have continued receiving is marring what should be a time of celebration.
Making things worse, Trump made a statement following his delayed signing of the bill, claiming that one of the reasons for delay was a promise from lawmakers “to focus strongly on the very substantial voter fraud which took place in the November 3 presidential election.” What the hell? Surely, Trump did not hold up aid to millions of Americans over his imaginary voter fraud scheme. There has been absolutely no evidence of any type of voter fraud in the election, and 60 or so dismissed or abandoned court cases back that up. Perhaps Trump’s supporters might fall for that nonsense, but no one else of sound mind will.
Besides, McConnell spoke after Trump and mentioned no such thing. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) said on CNN’S State of the Union that he does not get Trump’s actions “unless it’s just to create chaos and show power and be upset because you lost the election.” Bingo. The election is not the only thing Trump lost. He appears to have lost his mind.
Trump has never been the brightest bulb in the box. Likely, someone told Trump what he wanted to hear to get him to sign the bill. It is bad enough that unemployment beneficiaries must start all over again, but a government shutdown would have only made matters worse. As we counted down to the November 3 election, which turned out quite well, we now turn to inauguration day: Twenty-two days and counting.
Shirley is a former entertainment writer and has worked in the legal field for over 25 years