Trump laughs it up with millionaire friends to underline that he never planned to work with Congress

[Nevilledog]

https://m.dailykos.com/stories/2020/8/8/1967600/-Democratic-leaders-are-desperately-trying-to-save-America-but-Trump-is-going-another-way

On Friday evening, Donald Trump surrendered any pretense that he was actually interested in providing Americans with relief from the health threats and economic collapse triggered by his mismanagement of the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, he declared that he was “going another way.” That other way seems to be using this moment to undermine Social Security, and making sure that cities in desperate trouble because of the expense of dealing with the crisis while facing a collapsing economy are left with nowhere to turn.

Nowhere, that is, other than begging Trump. Because after two weeks of going through the motions of holding talks with Congress, the owner of Bedminster Country Club has made it clear that his “other way” is to treat executive orders as dictatorial power. Rather than go through all that effort at legislation, and compromise … Trump will simply determine who gets help, and who doesn’t, with a scrawl of his sharpie. Trump is going another way from democracy.

The charade that Republicans might actually agree to something that helped Americans ended with a ridiculous whimper delivered, appropriately enough, in a Friday night address from one of Donald Trump’s golf clubhouses. Trump, surrounded by a gathering of pasty, wealthy golf buddies, declared that he wouldn’t agree to even a third of what’s actually necessary. It was the absolutely appropriate ending to a process that was never more than a smokescreen from the outset. That Trump did this at a gathering of millionaires who refused to don masks, while declaring what was supposed to be a White House announcement “a political event” was only icing on the authoritarian cake.

Three months ago, Nancy Pelosi and Democrats the House passed the Heroes Act, a $3 trillion aid package that would send funds directly to families, extend expanded unemployment benefits, expand the Paycheck Protection program to keep small businesses afloat through the crisis, help businesses cover the expense of protecting workers and customers from COVID-19, and provide funds to state and local governments hit hard by the need to address the emergency and declining tax revenues following the collapse of the economy. The bill is a complete package that addresses real needs of both people and communities, from giving everyone a second $1,200 check to helping schools plan for delivering online classes.

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