Trump’s spite finally finds worthy target: The GOP
President Donald Trump on Friday officially said he wouldn’t sign a bipartisan affordable housing bill that Republicans wanted to run on in this year’s midterm elections, posting on social media in all caps that his decision is in “PROTEST” over the fact that the GOP-controlled Congress hasn’t passed a bill to suppress voting rights.
The housing bill—which, among other things, seeks to ban private-equity companies from gobbling up single-family residences and pricing out wannabe home-buyers—will still become law.
House Speaker Mike Johnson submitted the bill to Trump last week, setting off a 10-day clock that would let the bill become law even without Trump’s signature. That clock expires at the end of Friday, at midnight. Trump’s only option to delay the bill further would be to veto it before midnight, which he has not said he will do. (Of course, with Trump, you never know.)
Still, Republicans wanted the pomp and circumstance of Trump signing the legislation so that they could feature footage of the signing ceremony in ads before the November election.
Instead, all they got was an angry Truth Social diatribe in which Trump called Republicans “DUMB” and flamed them for not passing the SAVE America Act, a stupid piece of legislation that would make it harder for everyone to vote by requiring proof of citizenship to register.
“THE SAVE AMERICA ACT’S non-passage is CRAZY, and a serious threat to any politician who votes against it!” Trump wrote in his screed. “If the Dumocrats, or any RINO (or worse!) working with them, do not allow a positive Vote on SAVE AMERICA, TERMINATE THE FILIBUSTER, and pass this, and every other Bill that true Republicans have ever dreamt of (In addition to the upcoming Budget BOMB and the 1929 catastrophic style DEBT CEILING BILL!). The Dumocrats will TERMINATE THE FILIBUSTER, if and when they ever get the chance to do so, in their very first hour – And I will no longer be able to call them Dumocrats again! The title of DUMB will revert to the Republicans who allowed this horrible calamity to happen to our Party, and our Nation, itself!”
Trump has crapped on the housing bill for weeks, claiming the legislation that seeks to make life more affordable for Americans is “so unimportant” relative to the voter-suppression bill.
Worse still for Republicans, Trump said on camera that he doesn’t want to lower home prices for people who already own homes, which provides Democrats with more ammunition for their argument that Trump doesn’t care about anyone but himself and his rich pals.
“You have to understand—I don’t want to hurt people that own houses, too,” Trump said. “These people, for the first time in their lives, they have valuable houses. They become rich. I don’t want to hurt them either.”
In signing the bill, Trump could have taken a victory lap, declaring that he and Republicans are working to make housing more affordable—a top issue for voters this fall. The timing of the bill’s signing would have been especially good since home prices on Thursday hit an all-time high.
Instead, Trump is shooting his party in the foot.
As I wrote back in April, Trump has lost his political instincts and is using his time in office to get revenge on those whom he feels wronged him, slapping his name on landmarks and buildings to stroke his own ego, all while enriching himself and his family.
With a record like his, it’s no wonder the midterms are going to be a bloodbath for the GOP.
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