- President Donald Trump has been a historically chaotic and destructive commander-in-chief, and seems determined to take this to new levels in his final days.
- Trump sparked a fight with Republicans in Congress over COVID-19’s biggest stimulus checks and is dividing the party for its undemocratic effort to overturn the election result.
- Trump’s antics can cost the Republican Party its majority in the Senate.
- The president also made new threats to Iran, while the US sent B-52 bombers to the Persian Gulf in a show of strength, raising fears of a new war in the Middle East.
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President Donald Trump did immeasurable damage to the United States throughout his term, with his government reeling from one self-induced crisis to another. But with less than a month to go, Trump apparently decided to change things even more.
The president is increasing his propensity for chaos in his final days, pitting himself against Republicans in Congress, sowing chaos in Washington, raising fears of conflict with Iran and continuing his unbalanced and futile effort to overturn the election result 2020.
Presidents are generally not remembered for what they do as they walk out the door. Goofy presidents tend to slow down to promote a peaceful transfer of power. But, as he did with virtually all other democratic norms, Trump is breaking this in important ways by rejecting the election result and compulsively seeking attention.
The president’s unorthodox antics are having serious consequences, as well as generating headlines.
Trump sets off a fight over COVID-19 stimulus checks that could cost the Republican Party its majority in the Senate
Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell and Trump at the White House in July.
Doug Mills-Pool / Getty Images
Although he has shown little interest in governing since he lost the election to Joe Biden, the president almost derailed the last stimulus package for COVID-19 this month.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin played a key role in the tough negotiations behind the $ 900 billion bill, and Republican lawmakers strongly supported the legislation. When Trump initially refused to sign the bill, he sent shockwaves through Washington.
The president demanded that the direct payments of $ 600, which Mnuchin personally pressed, be increased to $ 2,000. In asking for fatter checks, Trump has effectively aligned himself with Democrats. The president eventually gave in and signed the bill on Sunday. But with the delay, Trump may have cost millions of Americans unemployment insurance while they desperately needed help.
In light of Trump’s support, the Democratic-led House passed an independent bill to increase payments to $ 2,000.
Trump continued to push for checks for $ 2,000, telling Congressional Republicans who oppose this that they should have a “death wish. “He put his own party in a terrible position before the Senate runoff elections in Georgia, which will determine whether Republicans will retain their majority in the upper house.
The $ 2,000 checks are extremely popular with Americans, but top Republican lawmakers cited concerns about the deficit in pressing against larger payments. By supporting the $ 2,000 checks, Trump basically ensured that Republicans would be seen as villains by opposing a proposal that would help millions of Americans.
Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell, who leads the charge against checks, applied one of his Machiavellian maneuvers to ensure that the proposal is dead in the water. McConnell injected poisonous pills into the account, packaging the $ 2,000 checks with Trump’s demands to revoke legal protections for social media companies and open an investigation into his allegations of electoral fraud.
McConnell knows that Democrats would never agree to such a package, and that is the point. The Kentucky Republican said the House passed the bill “did not have a realistic way to pass it quickly in the Senate.”
But Trump does not give up. “$ 2,000 ASAP!” he tweeted on Wednesday. The president is paving the way for the Republican Party on the issue. Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a key Trump ally, is now asking McConnell to support an independent vote on checks. Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue, who are fighting for their political lives in the runoff elections in Georgia, also spoke out in support of checks.
Trump’s rejection of the election result is also separating the Republican Party
Trump and Joe Biden in a presidential debate.
Morry Gash-Pool / Getty Images
Trump’s rejection of the election result also led to divisions in the Republican Party.
Congress is set to certify the vote of the Electoral College on January 6. A group of House Republicans plans to oppose certification – which is typically a formality – and Republican Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri on Wednesday became the first senator to say he was also an object.
Hawley’s decision would mean that Biden’s certification of victory would be delayed, but it would not affect the outcome of the election. The Missouri senator is forcing a pointless vote that would put Republican lawmakers on the spot about whether they are willing to embrace or reject Trump’s effort to overturn the election, based on conspiracy theories and baseless claims of mass electoral fraud.
McConnell asked in particular for senators not to oppose certification, citing political ramifications. Other Republicans criticized Hawley and any other Republican colleague who supported the effort.
“The president and his allies are playing with fire,” Republican Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska said in a Facebook post on Wednesday. “They have been asking – first to the courts, then to the state legislatures, now to Congress – to overturn the results of a presidential election.
“They have unsuccessfully appealed to the judges and are now appealing to federal office holders to invalidate millions and millions of votes. If you make big claims, you better have the evidence, ”added Sasse. “But the president doesn’t do that, and neither do the institutional arson members of Congress who will object to the Electoral College vote.”
While sowing chaos in Washington, Trump is renewing fears of war with Iran
An Iranian holds a photo of Qassem Soleimani in Tehran after his murder in January.
Reuters
In addition to his battles with Congress over stimulus checks and the election result, Trump is raising fears of a conflict with Iran. The US this week sent B-52 bombers to fly over the Persian Gulf region to send a message to Tehran after a rocket attack on the U.S. embassy in Baghdad, which the Trump administration said was the work of Iranian proxy forces.
Trump has also threatened Iran through his preferred means of communicating official government business. “Our embassy in Baghdad was hit on Sunday by several rockets,” Trump tweeted on December 23rd. “Three rockets were not launched. Guess where they were from: IRAN.”
“Iran-friendly health advice: if an American is killed, I will hold Iran accountable. Think about it,” added Trump.
On a tweet on Thursday, Iran’s top diplomat accused Trump of being involved in a “plot to MAKE pretext for war”.
About a year ago, Trump ordered a drone attack that killed Iran’s top general, Qassem Soleimani, and almost sparked a new conflict in the Middle East.
Biden accused the Pentagon of blocking him on vital national security issues and refusing to provide comprehensive information.
“Make no mistake, this lack of cooperation has implications in the real world, especially with regard to our national security,” said Yohannes Abraham, head of Biden’s transition team, on Wednesday. “This intentionally generated opacity makes it more difficult for our government to protect the American people in the future.”
With only 20 days left in office – and during a pandemic that has already killed at least 343,000 people under his supervision – Trump seems determined to drag the country with him. A lot can happen in 20 days.