So, Trump was fibbing.
Yesterday, President Trump tweeted his support for the $1.3 trillion omnibus crap sandwich passed by Republicans:
Then, this morning, Trump reversed himself, and suggested he might in fact veto the bill despite his earlier support:
Then Trump signed the bill.
It’s not surprising that Trump would sign the bill. After all, he was informed about its progress at every step of the way by Republicans in Congress, he didn’t want another government shutdown, and at no point did he use his leverage to get Republicans to change the language of the bill. But it is just another demonstration that the president’s credibility is shot with regard to the political threats he makes. It means that Republicans will continue to ignore him, send him the bills they want, and count on him to sign them — and it means they won’t bother to negotiate with him, since he doesn’t want to negotiate.
Now, Trump did have some things to say about the process for the bill. He criticized its last-minute cramdown:
But then he added, “I’ve signed this omnibus budget bill … there are a lot of things that I’m unhappy about.” He stated, “I’ll never sign another bill like this again.”
Fact check: he’ll probably sign a bill exactly like it again.
Trump never should have stood aside for this bill. And reversing himself after undercutting the bill is a huge mistake with real ramifications for how Congressional Republicans work with him in the future.