Americans are continuing to suffer through the public health and economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic — and, on Monday, outgoing President Donald Trump yet again went golfing. On Monday, he visited his golf property in Palm Beach, Florida, while vacationing at his nearby Mar-a-Lago resort during the holiday season. On Sunday, while on that vacation, Trump finally signed COVID-19 relief legislation that both chambers of Congress had passed, after petulantly dragging out the process while demanding an increase in the amount of direct relief payments to Americans. Trump had months to publicly push this proposal, so if he’s so genuinely concerned about getting support to Americans, then why is now when he ran with it? Americans don’t need another spectacle.
.@realDonaldTrump has arrived at his golf property. pic.twitter.com/EsB731kp2c
— Jeff Mason (@jeffmason1) December 28, 2020
Although Trump signed the $600 relief checks into law no matter his public advocacy for increasing the check amounts to $2,000, there’s still an opportunity to increase the level of support for Americans. The Democrat-led House planned a Monday vote on standalone legislation to increase the relief check amounts after a previous attempt to pass an increase of the check amounts via unanimous consent failed because of Republican objection. Trump could have spent Monday morning prioritizing an attempt to build Republican support for the $2,000 checks, since he’s supposedly so committed to the concept. Instead, he went golfing.
After Trump signed the COVID-19 relief legislation, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) issued a public statement in which she called on the president to put in the work to secure the $2,000 payments that he’s supposedly so interested in. She commented, in part, as follows:
‘Now, the President must immediately call on Congressional Republicans to end their obstruction and to join him and Democrats in support of our stand-alone legislation to increase direct payment checks to $2,000, which will be brought to the Floor [Monday]. Every Republican vote against this bill is a vote to deny the financial hardship that families face and to deny the American people the relief they need.’
Does Trump even care about putting in the work to fulfill some of the basic job responsibilities of the presidency? The answer is decidedly unclear.
