Evan Vucci/AP Photo
President Donald Trump as he boarded Air Force One earlier today
Remember the HEROES Act? Maybe you don't—that's Trump's hope. The act is the desperately needed $3 trillion extension of federal aid for unemployed workers, strapped state and local governments, public health needs, and a great deal more.
It passed the House on May 15, and has been blocked by the White House and Senate Republicans ever since. In the meantime, more than 25 million idled workers have lost their extended federal benefits.
McConnell and Trump were supposed to pay a terrible political price if they kept blocking an extension of federal aid. But that only works if the blockage is in people’s political consciousness. However, Trump’s two latest ploys have knocked that story off the front pages.
Trump, in keeping with his usual modus operandi, simply changed the subject to something even more inflammatory. First, he tried to destroy the Postal Service in order to mess with the election.
When that seemed to backfire, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy backed off. But the maneuver consumed a couple of weeks and got Nancy Pelosi to call Congress briefly back into session to vote on a narrow postal service bill rather than the broader HEROES Act.
Next, Trump doubled down on his tactic of fomenting violence and then blaming Democrats and Black activists. His trip to Kenosha was mostly a fizzle and protestors did not take the bait. But the violence story also kept real issues out of the headlines.
In the meantime, tens of millions of real people denied federal aid are needlessly suffering. Trump’s latest executive order suspending evictions provides some help on one front as well as symbolic reassurance—and once again diverts attention from his blockage of the larger relief bill.
Biden, Pelosi, and the Democrats, not to mention the media, need to get that disgraceful story back into the headlines. Otherwise, they will keep being Trumped.