Brought to you by Nick Carraway.

King Midas is a cautionary tale from Greek mythology. It is something uniquely American that the “Midas touch” is considered to be something desired. Trump has been said to have the Midas touch, but maybe he has the Sterquilinus touch. That would be the Roman God of poop. Everything he touches turns to excrement. 

In the latest tale we get the associated story of the relief bill and spending bill that he was threatening to pocket veto. The strategy made no sense politically as it threatened to torpedo the GOP’s chance to win the run off elections in Georgia and just pissed off a majority of the country. One might imagine Wile E. Coyote blowing himself up to catch the road runner.

Trump reversed course and signed the bill yesterday but now is insisting Congress must go back and rework the deal. No one bothered to tell him that by signing it he was guaranteeing that wouldn’t happen. Perhaps he was mixing that up with the defense bill he did veto. It is so difficult to keep track of two different bills at the same time. Who can be expected to do that?

The clownish aspect of this is undercut by the fact that millions are suffering through unemployment, the failure of small businesses, a housing crisis, and food shortages for many families. It isn’t so much that 600 dollars is not enough. It is the fact that it is coming way too late for many people. Even the 2000 dollars now would likely be too late. The president’s actions were so see through that there were no clothes at all. 

It was never about 600 versus 2000 dollars. It was about somehow punishing Mitch McConnell for saying Biden won. So, Trump was willing to make millions suffer to make a point. The cruelty is certainly on display, but the idiocy can’t be ignored. What was the endgame supposed to be? How could they possibly spin it to be anything but what it was? The gambit made so little political sense because he has never had political sense. He doesn’t know how government works. You’d think he’d learn after nearly four years, but idiots never learn.”

Nick