Trump brings hardship to many distressed families

“Whom the gods would destroy they first make mad” is a version of an ancient saying which appears to apply to Donald Trump. His decision to end bipartisan negotiations over a COVID stimulus bill designed to deliver essential cash to hard-pressed US families and businesses demonstrates the correctness of this saying. When he belatedly reversed this stand following warnings from advisers and proposed a $1.8 trillion package, this was rejected by both Republicans and Democrats.

Trump halted talks hours after Federal Reserve Bank chairman Jerome Powell warned that the economy would experience “tragic” results unless the government provides strong financial support soon, particularly since a second wave of COVID-19 infections could be expected as the weather becomes colder.

Trump initially said he would wait until after the US election to deal with a new bill. This means that thousands of unemployed people and their families may be evicted from their homes as protection for those unable to pay has expired and thousands may go hungry or have to rely on weekly boxes of unhealthy supplies from food banks. Therefore, delaying payments until after the election is simply not an option for people who are losing their homes and cannot afford to buy food from day to day while their children go without proper nourishment.

Warned by advisers this is not a wise course to follow in the run-up to the November 3rd election, Trump first tweeted that he would authorise support payments of $1,200 to families. This is but one provision in the proposed bill which was under discussion between House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. However, commentators argue that it will be difficult if not impossible to get such payments out ahead of the election.

The latest version of the package adopted by the House of Representatives is for $2.2 trillion; Trump’s Republicans want to reduce this to $1.6 trillion.

However, Trump argued that there should be no major injection of cash before the election because this would include funds for states governed by his Democratic party rivals. This also punishes states run by Republican loyalists and demonstrates, once again, that he does not take into consideration the interests of US citizens, not even Republicans. He thinks only of promoting his “us and them” line, demonising Democrats while relying on Republicans to back him whatever disgraceful and dangerous policies he adopts.

While denying finds to both Republican and Democrat governed states he starves them of money to pay police, firemen, hospital staff, teachers, and administrators who are state employees. Their families suffer. By adopting this line, he is also depriving airlines which are calling for urgent aid and the hospitality sector (restaurants, cafes, hotels, and tourism) where 20 per cent of jobs are on the line unless there is a major injection of cash immediately.

Trump tweeted that he will consider stimulus measures “after I win” the election although he has fallen behind his rival, former Vice President Joe Biden in the polls. Instead of rescuing families and the economy, Trump says he is focusing on the Supreme Court confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett, an ultra- conservative, on whom he may have to count if the result of the election is close and contested. In the front of Trump’s mind is the example of the 2000 election which was decided by the Court in favour of Republican George W. Bush after a dispute over the legality of votes in Florida, which were rejected while his brother Jeb Bush was the governor of the state.

It must also be recalled that Bush’s rival Democrat Al Gore won the popular vote just as Hillary Clinton, Trump’s challenger in 2016, garnered nearly three million more votes than Trump. Both Bush and Trump got into office as minority presidents due to the obsolete Electoral College where the votes of a few strategic counties in half a dozen states decide the winner. This is hardly a democratic system.

Trump may also lose support among voters for giving priority to Barrett’s confirmation before the election. This is opposed by 60 per cent of respondents to recent polls. Like the refusal to agree to the stimulus package this can only alienate voters haunted by the collapsing economy and COVID-19 which Trump has never taken seriously even after being infected.

His determination to go ahead with the confirmation process may well have resulted in his infection with COVID, which put him into hospital, as well as contraction of the virus by dozens of White House staff and other Trump contacts. Ahead of the debate with Biden, Trump hosted an event in the Rose Garden of the White House where scores of people gathered without masks and social distancing so he could present Barrett. Invitees also went into the building to shake hands and mingle.

Trump’s lack of respect for the virus has turned the White House into a super-spreader of contagion. This is the first time in history that this has happened and must be considered highly irresponsible. To make matters worse, while still infectious Trump insisted on returning to the White House after only four days of intensive treatment in a special unit at the Walter Reed Hospital. On the weekend, he resumed campaigning in his normal maskless mode. Therefore, he remains a threat to anyone there with whom he comes in contact.

Hostile commentators suggest that Trump has become all the more aggressive and assertive as his doctors have treated him with powerful steroids which can have serious side effects. So far his entourage has failed to restrain him and there is no expectation that they will now. Always a risky figure to put into a position of power, he has become all the more dangerous due to COVID-19, the disease he has dismissed as a “hoax.”