The Trump End Game

One has to wonder just how warped Donald Trump actually might be.  Looking at his actions after it has become apparent he will not serve a second term; he shows signs of jealousy and vindictiveness.  Rather than focusing on solving the economic and healthcare problems that have resulted from a failure to competently deal with the pandemic problem Trump has focused on punishing America for failing to give him a second term as president.  Trump, being Trump will never admit the reason for his loss is his failure to retain the votes of many who voted him into office the first time.  He had opportunity to “buy” voted by encouraging the Senate to pass the second House passed bill that would have provided a second $1200 stimulus check to every American as well as extending unemployment benefits for those millions out of work because of the pandemic.  But, he chose to play golf rather than try to convince McConnell to allow a Senate vote on the measure which sat on McConnell’s desk since March.  Rather than using the time to help Americans most affected by Covid-19 he did nothing.  Now that the election is over, the votes counted, and his loss a fact of life he has directed his efforts to punishing America for voting against him.  And, he is doing this in spite of receiving the 2^nd largest bumber of popular votes in the country’s history.  Rather than showing his gratitude by thanking his supporters he is trying to further damage the country than the damage already caused by his failure to lead and his failure to unite. While not meaning to ignore the damages caused by his policies and actions over the three plus years in office just look at his actions since the election has been over:

• The administration has also weakened environmental protections across the board in only the last few weeks. On Nov. 16, the Department of Agriculture finalized a rule change that lowers restrictions on commercial activities in national forests. The forest service just granted itself a free pass to increase commercial logging and roadbuilding across our national forests.
• On Nov. 17 he fired Chris Krebs, the cybersecurity chief of the Department of Homeland Security. Krebs' assertion that the election had been free of voter fraud contradicted Trump's claim that "massive improprieties and fraud" had led to his defeat.
• Over the weekend, Trump formalized the U.S. withdrawal from the Open Skies Treaty, a 1992 pact between Russia and Western nations designed to keep cooler heads in charge when the two sides conduct reconnaissance flights over each others' territories. Trump went further than withdrawal — he took steps to mothball two specially-equipped planes that conduct the oversight sorties. That would make it harder for Biden to revive the treaty, though experts say he can cancel the decommissioning upon taking office.
• Trump's issued leases allowing oil and gas exploration in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge before he leaves office. Biden could make good on his pledge to protect the reserve from development unless the Trump administration has already issued leases, which would be hard to unwind.
• The Trump administration released a final environmental impact statement supporting its decision to weaken the Endangered Species Act.  In this case, the administration sought to invalidate protections for the greater sage grouse so the bird's habitat can be opened for fracking and oil drilling in California and six other Western states.
• One day later, On healthcare, Trump has continued to steam ahead with regulations that will accomplish nothing but complicating the management of Medicaid, the nation's most important public health program, and threaten coverage for millions of enrollees.  On Nov. 4, the Department of Health and Human Services issued a proposed rule that would cause most HHS regulations to expire automatically without a time-consuming assessment and review. If it's finalized the rule would "divert key resources from responding to COVID-19; wreak havoc on the administration of Medicaid, Medicare, the marketplaces, and other HHS programs; and potentially seriously harm millions of people.
• The administration, which as we've reported has avoided no opportunity to undermine Medicaid, has also implemented a rule that effectively overturns a congressional guarantee that COVID-19 testing, immunization and treatment will be covered for Medicaid members.  The rule requires state Medicaid programs to reexamine the enrollment eligibility of millions of enrollees. It also excludes thousands of enrollees — those entitled to limited coverage such as some pregnant women — from coverage of COVID-19 testing and treatment costs. That could happen even though that coverage was guaranteed by the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, the first COVID-19 relief act passed by Congress and signed by Trump in March.
• The administration is also moving ahead with a rule reducing eligibility for food stamps that could cut as many as 3 million recipients out of the program, known formally as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. A federal judge blocked the rule change last year, but that hasn't stopped Trump from pushing it forward as his way of thanking the 70 plus million voters for their support.
• His Treasury secretary, Steven T. Mnuchin, is moving to sequester $455 billion in coronavirus relief funds appropriated by Congress but unspent by Trump in an account that will keep it inaccessible to the Biden administration without further congressional approval.

But with 56 days left until Biden can formally take over on Jan. 20, it's too soon to breathe easy. Trump still has all the powers of federal leadership in his hands. He's been showing in recent days and weeks that he's not shy about using them.  When it comes to environmental and healthcare policy in particular, he's been doing so with unparalleled malevolence.  That's just a taste of all the actions that are making this lame-duck administration one of the lamest ducks in history. There may be more vandalism in the offing. Without having to face even the modest political consequences that he has faced in the last four years, Trump is showing himself to be massively uninterested in governing at all now, and intent on throwing sand in the gears of good government by whim. The possibilities are endless, and endlessly frightening.