Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell, is probably wondering how he will navigate the upcoming mine field. The House voted to pass the increase in personal stimulus checks from $600 to $2,000 in accordance with what Trump said he wanted when he delayed signing the initial bill. McConnell and many of his Republican Senate colleagues have been against the higher figure because, all of sudden, they are concerned with the associated increase in the national debt. This seems a little disingenuous because the whole discussion of ‘increasing the national debt’ didn’t seem to be much of an issue when Trump and the Republicans pushed through the tax cuts in 2017 which led to a large increase in the national debt. I guess the message is that if the national debt gets increased so large corporations can increase their profits and millionaires can increase their wealth then its OK, but if the national debt gets increased to help ‘Joe Average’ it’s not OK! Whatever. It will be interesting to see how McConnell and the other Republicans play this one.
The House also voted to override Trump’s veto of the Defense Authorization Bill so now McConnell and his Republican colleagues have to decide whether they wish to go against Trump by voting to override Trump’s veto or caving to Trump to try to make the changes to the Defense Bill that Trump wants. This is really putting McConnell between a rock and a hard place. There is little chance that the Democrats will agree to any of the changes that Trump wants and if the Republicans do not vote to override the veto, it puts the military and consequently the entire country at risk. The Defense Authorization Bill has passed uneventfully for decades but now that we all live in Trump world and everything has become political, it’s a totally different game. It will be interesting to see if McConnell and his Republican senate colleagues are more interested in collecting ‘Trump loyalty chips’ or more interested in the welfare of the military and the country.
McConnell’s final hurdle will be to see if he can keep his Republican senate colleagues in line on January 6th when several Republican House members are planning to challenge the results of the Electoral College in some of the swing states that Trump lost. If even one of the Republican Senators agrees to join the House challenge, it will lead to hours of debate and basically provide a political circus for the world to watch. The chances that it will have any outcome at all on the installation of Joe Biden as the next president are essentially zero. The participants will gather lots of ‘Trump loyalty chips’ but nothing else will be accomplished. McConnell is trying to dissuade his Republican colleagues from participating but if he is successful, he will most certainly incur the wrath of Trump. If any of the Republican Senators choose to participate in the circus, it will undermine and call in to question McConnell’s leadership and control of the Republicans in the Senate. In either scenario, McConnell is going to get a bit bruised. (It couldn’t happen to a nicer guy!)
McConnell didn’t get to where he is by being stupid. He is certainly very aware of the mine field that lies ahead. He has a thick skin and probably a closet full of flak jackets, all of which will come in to play. It will be interesting to watch. And that is probably exactly what Trump is thinking. He is angry at McConnell for acknowledging Biden as the President-elect and now McConnell is paying the price for not kissing Trump’s ring!! None of the three challenges in front of McConnell had to happen. This is all Trump’s doing. Just another example of Trump creating chaos where none needed to be.
In addition to the obstacles Trump has placed in front of McConnell, his sycophants in the Department of Defense are apparently not being fully cooperative and transparent with the incoming Biden team as one would hope. The transition effort was already delayed due to Trump’s intransigence and that of his appointee at the General Services Administration but having anything less than full and transparent cooperation at this point in the process is a huge national security risk. Apparently, Trump’s political appointees in the DoD care more about being awarded ‘Trump loyalty chips’ than they care about the United States of America. Pathetic.
I do think that all of these antics by Trump are beginning to result in cracks in his grip on the GOP and perhaps once he’s officially out of office and preoccupied with fighting his personal legal and financial battles, his evil spell over the Republican Party will fade further and some in the party may find their spines and begin to stand up and move back toward true conservative policies. Time will tell.
Right now, the inauguration will take place three weeks from tomorrow. The next three weeks will be more like the political version of Cirque du Soleil than the peaceful transitions of power that have been the hallmark of American democracy for generations. So, pull up a chair, get yourself some snacks and a beverage, and enjoy the circus!
Instead of “We the People” it should read “We the Trumpers.” Unless you are a Trumper you are just fake news.