Trump loses his ‘chicken’ game

PERRYSCOPE

Perry Diaz

Once again, President Donald J. Trump played the game of “chicken” when he held up the $900 billion COVID relief stimulus bill by demanding that direct payments to the people be increased to $2,000 per person. 
    Speaker Pelosi responded that she would go along with the $2,000 direct payment wanted by Trump.  But the Republican majority in the Senate didn’t want to go along, saying that $2,000 is too much to dole out to the unemployed, which the GOP legislators claim would make the unemployed Americans lazier to look for work.  But there are no jobs available for them!    
    But as the “chicken” game was nearing the cliff, Trump blinked and gave up on his demand.  The original amount of $600 for direct payments to Americans stayed.  Clearly, Trump cannot afford to lose in his “chicken” game; which turned out to be “chicken” shit.  It unnerved him.
    But let’s go back to the time Congress and the President started negotiating for the COVID relief stimulus package.  The programs, which were adopted nine months ago at the start of the pandemic, have helped Americans buy groceries, pay their bills, stay current on their rents and mortgages.  All are set to expire by December 28.  
    If Trump fails to sign the stimulus package by that date, all hell will break lose!  With no food on the table and no roof over their heads, millions of Americans will suffer.  All the while the pandemic is killing Americans.  To date, there are more than 18 million COVID cases and 330,000 deaths.
    But he has been remiss in dealing with the pandemic. He doesn’t have a plan to mitigate the coronavirus from spreading across the country.  He doesn’t even want to talk about the pandemic.  How he spent his time is baffling indeed.  At 3:00 AM, he starts his tweeting attacking his enemies – the Democrats – and keeps on pursuing his election fraud claims, which were rejected by at least 60 courts and two Supreme Court rulings that rejected his claims as “lacking merit.”
Plotting his moves
In the morning he watches Fox News and other right-wing channels. Some sources say he spend eight hours each day watching television.  Then he’d go to one of his golf courses at least twice a week and play golf for the rest of the day.  And in between, he’d be calling his Republican allies to tell them to support his plot to convince Congress to overturn the election results and declare him president for a second term.
    With the legal fight now deemed over, Trump is bringing his fight to Congress where the legislators will count the Electoral College votes, which by the way has already been completed by the 50 states.  The totals came out to 306 for Biden and 232 for Trump.  The counting in Congress is merely a formality.  But Trump’s campaign is putting up Trump “electors” in the six battleground states where he lost the election.  
    But the bogus Trump electors were not certified by the corresponding governors. Only the Biden electors were submitted and certified by the governors.  Obviously, the Trump campaign is planning to create havoc in Congress when it convenes on January 6 for the counting.  The question is: How will Trump’s Republican allies overturn the Electoral College votes in Congress?  What play – or magic -- are they going to do?
Martial law
But Trump’s playbook calls for martial law as last resort if he couldn’t get Congress to overturn the election result.  He’ll probably create chaos and disturbances.  He already started sowing confusion when he didn’t sign the COVID relief stimulus bill.  Wait until millions of hungry and evicted people will go marching in the streets.  There will be bedlam!
And Trump, surrounded by an eight-foot metal fence around the White House, would declare a state of emergency, which would further infuriate the people.
      And the next thing he would do is invoke the Insurrection Act.  Republican governors would call the National Guard to quell the anticipated disturbances and rioting that would ensue. This would only exacerbate the situation.  People will get angrier!  And that’s what Trump wants.  It could trigger a civil war.
    And if everything else fails, Trump would then declare martial law and have President-elect Biden and Vice-President-elect Kamala Harris arrested and placed under house arrest guarded by the Proud Boys, Trump’s storm troopers.  This might sound outlandish but don’t underestimate Trump.  He plans to be in power for 12 years, by hook or by cook.  After Trump’s tenure, who would be next?  Donald Trump Jr. or Ivanka Trump maybe?   Thus, begins the Trump dynasty.  Or should I call it Donald Duck Dynasty?
Trump’s inauguration
Meanwhile, thousands of Trump supporters are planning a virtual “second inauguration” for Trump on January 20, the same day as President-elect Biden’s inauguration.
    So far, more than 60,000 people have indicated on Facebook that they are planning to attend the event billed as “Donald J. Trump 2nd Presidential Inauguration Ceremony.”  At $40 non-refundable per ticket, that’s $2,400,000 to be raised for Trump bogus inauguration.  That’s a lot of moolah!
    A disclaimer appears on the Facebook page, which says: “We are a grassroots collection of private individuals 325,000 strong, showing our support for President Donald J. Trump. We have no affiliation with any formal organization.”
Facebook has added a disclaimer to the page that states, “Joe Biden is the President-elect. He will be inaugurated as the 46th US President on January 20, 2021.”
    According to a news report, one of the event's organizers Evi Kokalari was involved in the 2020 Trump campaign and regularly appears on right-wing television shows including One America News Network. Which makes one wonder:  Who will swear Trump in as president?  Will it be one of three appointees to the Supreme Court?  I doubt it.  But Rudy Guiliani would love to swear him in.  After all, he’s a lawyer, a former mayor, and a joker
    Watch out for the Trump whammy. It’s going to be worse than the triple whammy, which was what would have happened had the COVID relief stimulus package been revised that would delay the funds from being released. 
This reminds me of the La La Land dreamers’ song, which goes as follows:
Leaped without looking
And tumbled into the sand
The water was freezing
She spent a month sneezing
But she said she would do it again.
Here’s to the ones who dream
Foolish as they may seem
Here’s to the hearts that ache
Here’s to the mess we make.
Yes, Donald, keep on dreaming.
 (PerryDiaz@gmail.com)