Shopping
It’s Christmas Eve. In my younger years, this was the first (and last) day to get my Christmas shopping done. Pressure is a remarkable thing: when you don’t have a lot of time, or a lot of choices Christmas shopping goes pretty quick. Saving money wasn’t the objective; crossing off the list, and headed for home, was the plan.
Christmas Eve then was a day of pressure and solution. Get done shopping, and get on with the celebration. The “clock and the calendar” were ticking: get the presents, get packed, and get home to Cincinnati. In later years I learned to spread the shopping over a few days. I would go to a mall where I was unlikely to see folks I knew, far across town, and get my presents done. And even later, the Internet changed the process. A lot of shopping went online. But I miss my annual trip, pressing through the crowds at City Centre, or Tuttle Crossing, or Polaris.
And, of course, COVID Christmas is completely different. The shopping was done weeks ago (except for some Dollar Store stocking stuff), and was all from the kitchen table. Santa’s sleigh may be loaded, but FedEx and UPS and Amazon are the reindeer this year, delivering my gifts both here and across the country. Merry Christmas – the folks in the delivery trucks are doing the job.
In the Room
And this is the fourth, and last, Christmas of the Presidency of Donald J. Trump. He came in the New Year of 2017, in a flurry of Executive Orders, Alternative Facts, and outright lies. So, to quote Lincoln, “…it is altogether fitting and proper…” that his Presidency end with just as much chaos, just as much disruption, and just as much concern about the fate of our Nation.
Just like buying all my presents on Christmas Eve, the United States Congress works best under pressure. The “clock and calendar,” (Congressman Doug Collins’ best contribution to the public discourse) of deadlines sharpens the mind and gets work done. The National Defense Act, the Omnibus Spending Bill, and the COVID relief Bill all popped out of the Congress the weekend before Christmas. All through the House, and all through the Senate, the staff was stirring. Over five thousand pages of legislation had to get to the White House, get the President’s signature and become the law.
To quote Hamilton, the Musical, this is “… the art of the trade, how the sausage is made”. And in the “room where it happened” weren’t just members of the House and the Senate. The President’s men were in there too, led by the Secretary of the Treasury, Steve Mnuchin. Everyone was “on board”, with the exception of some parts of the Defense Act.
President Trump decided to veto the Defense Act. His argument is that the United States shouldn’t rename bases that are currently named for Confederate Generals. But, more importantly for Trump, he wants “Section 230”, a portion of law that protects Internet Social Media services removed. What that’s got to do with the National Defense, no one is certain, but here it is.
Keeping the Spotlight
But Trump also is trying to renegotiate the COVID relief bill, which is part of the Omnibus Spending Bill, the bill that allows the US government to continue to spend money. After all of the “sausage was made”, he wants to start over. The passed bill calls for a $600/person check for Americans. But now, after the process is done, Trump calls for it to be $2000. That was the Democratic legislators’ position at the beginning of the negotiations, the Republican Senators whittled it down to $600.
But the “whittling” was the way the deal was made. And since Trump absented himself from the “room where it happened”, he cut himself out of the deal. Now, with all of the balancing done, he’s upset the Omnibus apple cart.
Why now, why did he wait? He is dribbling out pardons like candy canes at a Christmas parade. Why are war criminals, tax cheats, and former Trump campaign aides all now free? And after creating all of this disruption, this chaos, what did the President do? He headed to Florida – it’s time for his last government sponsored vacation.
It’s Christmas Eve. Don’t expect President Trump to be upstaged by Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi, or even Santa Claus. The Trump team – “On Jared, Ivanka, Eric and Don (and of course led by Rudy)” might get their “Get Out of Jail Free” card tonight. And, of course, the real crazies are ready for the “insurrection”. Today is the day for them.
It’s the last Donald Trump Christmas, and he’s going to be front and center. Right in the middle of the Chaos.
Merry Christmas!!!!
