Yesterday, after about nine months of bickering, the Congress finally succeeded in passing a 2nd coronavirus relief bill. They attached it to a government funding bill in a long-practiced legislative maneuver (attaching something controversial to a funding bill) knowing that the funding bill will have to pass.

So what does the Donald do? He immediately weighs in with a video calling the bill a “disgrace,” in part because it proposes only $600 in stimulus citizens for ordinary citizens. Trump said it should be $2000.

Trump is (for once) not wrong about that. But why isn’t it $2000? Because (as every observer of this process already knows) the Republicans have long blocked making it $2000, or even $1200, but were insisting on the $600 amount.

Trump had (of course) every chance in the world to weigh in on this negotiation, but he has (as we already know) completely abandoned his job since well before the election to focus on the only thing that mattered to him, which was his re-election.

In addition, it appears to be the case that Trump (the fucking President of these United States) does not actually understand that this stimulus bill is attached to the government funding bill. As pointed out by the journalist Emily Cochrane and others, many of the spending items that Trump objects to were spending proposals made by his own administration.

Congress is now on it’s Christmas break, but Pelosi has already announced that she’s happy to bring the House back and get the Republicans to vote up and down on $600 vs. $2000.

Merry Christmas everyone!