Trump blew out of town on Christmas Eve, headed for Hide-a-Lago to thrash the little white ball and wait out the subpoenas to start pouring in from New York.  On the way out the door, he released yet another weird video, this time calling the joint appropriations and coronavirus response bill “a disgrace” for its spending and $600 per month relief payments to Americans, calling for $2,000 per month, which is what the House Republicans proposed IN MAY.  The problem?  Trump’s WH, through Steve Mnuchin, demanded the $600 per month and wouldn’t budge.  Like most things Trump, what’s going on now doesn’t make any sense unless you look at the world through Trump’s ME ME ME lens.

McConnell, as usual, was the cause of the months-long delay in a new relief bill.  Like Trump, McConnell really doesn’t care if you live or die, and is always happy to use you and me as hostages for no other reason than another political win that is only important to him and his circle of criminals. The one constant with McConnell is that he ALWAYS plays brinksmanship, holding legislation until the very last second, using those who need help as leverage to extract concessions from the Democrats and exact pain on the American people.  This time, though, McConnell may have outsmarted himself by waiting so long.

Historian and Boston College history professor Heather Cox Richardson posted a very interesting piece yesterday on Facebook about she believes is going on.  Her premise is that Trump is exacting revenge against his perceived enemies, including all of us as Americans for voting him out.  He’s also furious with McConnell, Thune, and other Republicans who have recognized Biden as the legal and official President Elect.  Apparently he actually did believe that he could bend reality and the courts and his party to his will to illegally seize power outside of any Constitutional authority.  When our fragile democracy held (at least so far), he has determined to burn down as much as he can, including throwing boxes of nails out of the wagon on his way out of town.

How did McConnell outsmart himself, you ask?  Richardson posits this:  Under the rules, during a Congressional session, the President has 10 days (not counting Sunday) to sign or veto a bill.  However, at the end of a session, though, if that 10 days runs beyond the end date, the bill just dies, called a “pocket veto”.  The current congressional session closes on January 3rd.  Richardson believes Trump received the bill to sign on the 24th, so that gives him until January 4th to sign.  If Trump doesn’t sign by the 3rd, the bill dies, the government shuts down, and millions of Americans suffer.  Millions.

This is the likely end game now for Trump.  The voters said no; the states said no; the Electoral College said no; the courts, including the SCOTUS, said no; the military said no; and the Congress has said no (so far).  If Trump burns it all down, there’s a fair chance that the Dems take the Senate by winning the Georgia runoffs.  The mess he leaves behind will take years for Biden to fix, if ever.  Trump’s stated plan is to run in 2024, and he’ll use the disaster of his own making as the reason to re-elect him to “fix” it.  Our only chance, short of Republicans growing spines, is Trump being convicted of a felony in New York or having one of his thousands of scandals finally stick.

These will be the only things (short of his physical health problems) that can stop him.