In a breakdown of the week's political news this Thursday, POLITICO's Anna Palmer and Jake Sherman contend that with his surprise push to bump the stimulus checks in the latest coronavirus relief packs up to $2,000 from $600, President Trump has effectively "pressed the ejection seat on his allies" in Congress.
"Mitch McConnell has "practically no political incentive to pacify Trump at this point. If worse comes to worst, he'll have a better hand in a few weeks with Joe Biden in the White House. Biden's a Democrat, but at least you know his administration's word is likely to be good," they write.
According to Palmer and Sherman, Trump allies agree that his attempt to blow up the bipartisan stimulus bill is basically revenge against those who didn't jump onboard with his effort to overturn the 2020 election's results. Now, we're staring down the possibility of a government shutdown.
"Make no mistake about that," Palmer and Sherman write. "The hope in some corners of the Capitol is that the House and Senate come back Monday -- the House will be, but who knows if the Senate will be back -- and they pass a stopgap to keep the government funded into January. But why would the president sign that if this truly has little to do with the policy?"
The report also notes that the president "has come to think that this fight he has pitched -- teasing a veto on a covid/funding bill that his administration negotiated -- is playing well with Americans, these people said. He's highlighting what he considers to be wasteful foreign spending -- never mind he proposed much of it -- and is pushing for $2,000 checks in place of the $600 checks his underlings and party agreed to."
Read more over at POLITICO.
