How Trump Caved on the Relief Bill

“Getting a cranky, stubborn President Trump to belatedly sign the COVID relief bill, after unemployment benefits had already lapsed, was like being a hostage negotiator, or defusing a bomb,” Axios reports.

“The deal was closed on a Sunday afternoon phone call with Trump, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy.”

“Over many days, Mnuchin and McCarthy — aided by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who golfed with Trump in West Palm Beach on Friday — indulged the president’s rants, told him there was great stuff in the bill, and gave him ‘wins’ he could announce, even though they didn’t change the bill.”

However, said GOP pollster Frank Luntz: “It may be too late. Too late for him, too late for the economy, too late for Covid, and too late for the Georgia senators.”