Trump packs a punch

Whoever thought Trump is not a fighter? He is known to test his moods and fortunes till the very end. He thought, and still thinks so, that his victory has been snatched away illegally by Biden and so he does not want to spare him.

The Democrats are worried now over the damage that Trump could do to them and their future prospects of coming to power in the last days of his White House stay. When the Congress passed the COVID relief package, it miscalculated once again. Trump did not say no to it but sought an amendment to the $892 billion relief package to be given to people.

Taking to Twitter as usual, he said the proposed amount was a disgrace and that the Bill also contained wasteful items. The Congress has passed a Bill that got nothing to do with Covid, he tweeted. The bill includes one-off $600 payments to most Americans, but Trump said the figure should be $2,000.

The Republican president, who leaves office on January 20, had been expected to sign the sprawling legislation into law. But in his message from the White House, Trump criticised spending in the bill on other countries, arguing that this money should go to struggling Americans.

Trump sought to embarrass Biden and the Democrats and place them in a soup over the Bill. He picked up allocations made to non-Americans in doing so. He said: "This bill contains $85.5m for assistance to Cambodia, $134m to Burma, $1.3bn for Egypt and the Egyptian military, which will go out and buy almost exclusively Russian military equipment, $25m for democracy and gender programs in Pakistan, $505m to Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama."

The president also questioned why the Kennedy Center, a performing arts complex in Washington DC, was set to receive $40m when it is not even open, and more than $1bn has been allocated to museums and galleries in the capital. As Trump says the Congress seemed to be having "plenty of money for foreign countries, lobbyists and special interests, while sending the bare minimum to the American people who need it. It wasn't their fault. It was China's fault."

"I am asking Congress to amend this bill and increase the ridiculously low $600 to $2,000 or $4,000 for a couple." "I'm 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." If the Capitol Hill did not see it coming, it was its fault.

As for the technicalities, Trump has chosen the right way of doing it - killing the Bill. If he were to reject it, the lawmakers would have been able to get it passed. He refused to sign it. The Bill dies now. As for Trump he simply followed his 'America First" policy. If the Democrats insist on the Bill, what would Americans think of them? A real Catch-22 situation for them!