Despite the fact that President Trump put out a video shortly before Christmas detailing the billions of dollars in wasteful spending going to foreign countries in the COVID relief bill, not to mention the disgust of many Americans at how they only got $600 after being unemployed for nine months, ABC’s Good Morning America and NBC’s Sunday Today claimed they couldn’t figure out why the President wanted $2,000 relief checks. The former even suggested it was a just “play for attention.”
But of course, they didn’t understand the plight of average Americans, they’re New York and D.C. elitists who have been fully employed during the length of the pandemic and didn’t need to worry about having their basic needs met.
That’s why GMA co-anchor Dan Harris couldn’t wrap his head around Trump’s instance on greater relief for struggling Americans, and suggested Trump may be threatening to veto the bill for attention.
“So, do you have an inkling, do you have a sense of what his end game could be here? Is it a principled stand, is it a play for attention, is it neither, or both? What do you think,” he asked chief White House correspondent Jon Karl. Meanwhile, the COVID relief bill had millions going to Pakistan for gender studies.
According to Karl, who’s also the author of an anti-Trump book and former president of the White House Correspondents Association, Trump only just realized he could use the bill to leave his mark:
I think what is going on here, Dan, is the President realized -- he's the negotiator. He takes pride in being the ultimate negotiator. He realized this is the last moment of supreme leverage that he may have as president. This is a bill that absolutely must pass or we'll see a government shutdown. We'll see, you know, people thrown off the unemployment rolls. So, he belatedly realized, “Hey, here’s my chance to put my big mark on it.” I don't think there was a lot of strategy on it beyond that.
Over on NBC, White House correspondent Hallie Jackson was acting as the fill-in anchor and speaking with contributor Jake Sherman from Politico about what was going on with bill. After Sherman said the President’s reaction to the wasteful bill was “befuddling,” Jackson claimed unnamed people she talked to in the White House “don't quite understand in some ways the motivation here.”
“Talk about any political benefit potentially for the President. Obviously if Americans are hearing, ‘hey, the president wants to get me more money,’ that's a good thing. But the deal is done, and the President's own administration members, as you referenced, actually worked on this,” she huffed.
Sherman rhetorically threw up his hands as he went on about how it was hard to make heads or tails of the President’s reasoning:
I don't know what the possible political motivation could be, Hallie. His presidency is over. He's going to -- he could have potentially ruined the chance for Republicans to hold on to the Senate. There's two special elections in Georgia coming up in the next couple of weeks. His party is being routinely and roundly blamed for this impasse.
It’s really only the press blaming Republicans for the impasse despite the fact Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) refused to negotiate for months to create more pain before the election.
“I don't understand at all what he's trying to do,” Sherman continued. “I guess you could say he's trying to get more money for the American people. But again, if they're not getting unemployment, if the government shuts down at a time where so many people are relying on government aid, I don't know what the benefit is at all to the President.”
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
ABC’s Good Morning America
December 27, 2020
8:10:03 a.m. Eastern(…)
DAN HARRIS: Jon, good morning. So, based on your reporting, do you think Trump is likely to sign this bill at some point?
JON KARL: Well, this is really something, Dan. I have asked that exact question several times of the President's press secretary, of his entire press team. There is no answer. They cannot clarify for me whether or not the President is actually threatening to veto this or just asking for these changes.
And you can understand their situation, Dan. It was about a week ago when the White House press office put out a statement suggesting the President would sign it as soon as it got to his desk. I think the bottom line is nobody in the Trump administration knows what he will do; except for the President, and he's not saying.
HARRIS: You've been watching President Trump even before he was president. You've been watching his public life for a long time, as you wrote about it in your book. So, do you have an inkling, do you have a sense of what his end game could be here? Is it a principled stand, is it a play for attention, is it neither or both? What do you think?
KARL: I think what is going on here, Dan, is the President realized -- he's the negotiator. He takes pride in being the ultimate negotiator. He realized this is the last moment of supreme leverage that he may have as president. This is a bill that absolutely must pass or we'll see a government shutdown. We'll see, you know, people thrown off the unemployment rolls. So, he belatedly realized, “Hey, here’s my chance to put my big mark on it.” I don't think there was a lot of strategy on it beyond that.
HARRIS: Perhaps some presidential flexing here.
NBC’s Sunday Today
December 27, 2020
8:09:15 a.m. Eastern(…)
HALLIE JACKSON: You described it as befuddling. Jake, you know I covered the White House for NBC News, and even people close to the President that I've talked to don't quite understand in some ways the motivation here. Talk about any political benefit potentially for the President. Obviously if Americans are hearing, hey, the president wants to get me more money, that's a good thing. But the deal is done, and the President's own administration members, as you referenced, actually worked on this.
JAKE SHERMAN: You're right. I don't know what the possible political motivation could be, Hallie. His presidency is over. He's going to -- he could have potentially ruined the chance for Republicans to hold on to the Senate. There's two special elections in Georgia coming up in the next couple of weeks. His party is being routinely and roundly blamed for this impasse.
I don't understand at all what he's trying to do. I guess you could say he's trying to get more money for the American people. But again, if they're not getting unemployment, if the government shuts down at a time where so many people are relying on government aid, I don't know what the benefit is at all to the President.
(…)
