A distrust of elected Republicans towards their leader, at the twilight of his mandate.
The US Congress this Friday inflicted unprecedented humiliation on Donald Trump by bypassing, by a very large majority, his veto on the huge defense budget.
The majority of Republican elected officials joined the Democrats to adopt this budget of $ 740 billion.
In four years in the White House, Donald Trump has used his veto power nine times against bills passed in both chambers.
Until then, Congress had never managed to achieve the two-thirds majority necessary to override it.
During an exceptional session, on January 1, the Senate achieved this with 81 votes for and 13 against.
The House of Representatives having done the same on Monday, the text is definitively adopted.
This new slap comes as more and more Republican elected officials recognize Donald Trump's presidential defeat on November 3, a failure that he still does not concede himself.
A "weak and tired Republican leadership"
Anticipating this new rebuff, the billionaire denounced earlier this week a "weak and tired Republican leadership".
Faced with this attack by the tenant of the White House, the leader of the Republican senators Mitch McConnell did not give in, calling on his troops to "assume their responsibilities" towards the Pentagon.
“This is to ensure that we stay in the race against our competitors like Russia and China”, he pleaded Friday at the opening of the debates.
"It is also an opportunity to remind our soldiers and their families that they have our support," added the influential senator.
The result of long negotiations, the text notably provides for a 3% increase in the salaries of Defense personnel.
As has been customary for more than half a century, it had been adopted in early December by overwhelming majorities in the Democratic-majority House and the Republican-controlled Senate.
Donald Trump announced on December 23 that he was vetoing it, causing consternation even in his camp.
Morning essentials newsletter
A tour of the news to start the day
Subscribe to the newsletterAll newsletters
He considered the text too favorable to China and protested against the possibility of renaming military bases honoring Confederate generals who fought in defense of slavery during the Civil War (1861-1865).
He also criticized him for not including the abolition of a law, known as “article 230”, protecting the legal status of social networks, which he accuses of being biased against him.
READ ALSO>
"No, it's not over": why Donald Trump still refuses to admit defeat
The text also thwarts Donald Trump's plan to reduce the American military presence in Germany, by imposing a deadline of at least 120 days before such a measure, so that no American withdrawal could take place before taking up his post. successor Joe Biden on January 20.
Another setback on aid to low-income households
Donald Trump, who has always presented himself as a king of negotiations, suffered another setback this Friday.
He failed to convince Mitch McConnell to present, in a vote, his request to increase the amount of aid to American households, currently set at $ 600, to $ 2,000, intended to cushion the economic impact of the pandemic. .
His proposal had however received the support of the Democrats, who insisted on putting it to a vote.
But Mitch McConnell ruled that it was "socialism for the rich", since the check will also go "to households that have not lost jobs or income".
Concentrated on his post-election crusade, Donald Trump did not immediately react to these snapshots.
Instead, he has tweeted to invite his supporters to demonstrate on January 6 in Washington, when Congress confirms its loss to Joe Biden.
Massive amounts of evidence will be presented on the 6th.
We won, BIG!
https://t.co/ymncRrNR5t
- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 1, 2021
“We won WIDELY!
He wrote, promising that "a great deal of evidence" would be presented at this rally.
For now, this regularly promised “massive evidence” has never been made public and the courts have systematically rejected the president's appeals.