Going It Alone against the Misery in the Country

A few weeks ago the Trump campaign still had all kinds of optimistic plans. Summer was supposed to be the time when America would overcome the coronavirus pandemic, when people would move past the suffering, go back to work and spend money. The president pushed for stores, restaurants and schools to open up again. For a while, he tried out a new campaign slogan on Twitter that was supposed to express this recovery, at the end of which America would be great again: “Transition to Greatness.”

Then things turned out differently. The virus continues to hold the U.S. firmly in its grasp. Millions of citizens are unemployed, afraid of falling into debt and poverty or losing their homes. Because Americans will begin voting for president in a few weeks, the incumbent, whose poll numbers are not good, apparently deemed it appropriate to take some action against the misery in the country. In any case, Donald Trump took time over the weekend while visiting one of his golf clubs to sign multiple orders which are supposed to ease the social consequences of the pandemic.

It is unclear whether the four orders he signed are lawful or whether they will help much. Trump signed a memorandum that is supposed to prevent certain tenants who default on rent due to the economic crisis from being evicted. There were or are such protective moratoriums in many cities, counties and states; Congress issued one as well. Meanwhile, however, in many cases those orders, which have meant the difference between a secure home and homelessness for millions of people, have expired.

However, according to experts, Trump’s executive order protects the inhabitants of a quarter of all rented apartments in the United States at most. Millions of other people who lost their jobs and have no more money for rent still have to face eviction if their state or community does not help.

Similarly lacking are the new unemployment benefits that Trump established in a second executive order. Congress passed the very generous resolution in the spring to provide an additional $600 per week from the Treasury Department to all recognized unemployed workers until the end of July, $2,400 a month, but only until the end of July. Without this aid, an essential part of the population would have long since been impoverished. Trump’s order lowers the additional amount to $400, but at least extends the payments.

Donald Trump Uses the Stalemate in Congress To Portray Himself as Someone Who Cares

Because Congress has not yet approved any money for this, Trump is financing the subsidies out of the budget of the disaster response authority, the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Furthermore, a quarter of the costs are supposed to be covered by the states, which are already in serious financial trouble because of the crisis. In this respect it is uncertain whether the aid will actually ever reach a significant number of people in need, provided that a court doesn’t overturn the order.

The third order gives citizens who have taken out federal student loans the opportunity to temporarily suspend payment. This makes it easier for millions of people to make ends meet now, but only if they attended a university. The order does not lower their debt burden.

Finally, the fourth order was a typical Trump maneuver. For a long time, the president has wanted to lower the tax that is deducted from citizen salaries in order to fund Social Security. However, because only Congress could pass this tax cut, and absolutely does not want to pass it, the president has now allowed all employers to refrain from deducting the employee contribution for the time being. Whether that is legal is controversial. Many companies will probably prefer not to take the risk. Finally, no one knows who will be president in a few months, which party in which chamber of Congress will have a majority, or whether Trump’s orders won’t all be invalidated again. However, the uncertainty caused by the upcoming election is specifically part of the problem. Trump issued his orders only because Democrats and Republicans in Congress were not able to come to an agreement beforehand on a new coronavirus aid package. The Democrats demanded more than the Republicans wanted to give; both sides remained firm because they didn’t want to yield in the middle of an election campaign.

This stalemate, in turn, gave the president, who otherwise tries to explain at every opportunity why America is, in truth, actually really great, the opportunity, with his orders, to finally cast himself as someone who cares and to simultaneously dole out a bit of campaign scolding. The Democrats “have chosen to hold this vital assistance hostage on behalf of very extreme partisan demands and the radical-left Democrats, and we just can’t do that,” Trump said indignantly Saturday before he signed the orders. The president added that he himself couldn’t do anything about all of the problems anyway. “It’s China’s fault.”