Trump has followed through with his threat and vetoed the NDAA. As a result, Trump is denying the military funding because he couldn’t kill Section 230.
Outgoing president, Donald “Losers and Suckers” Trump, has followed through with a threat. After throwing a temper tantrum over his empty seat rally, Trump demanded that lawmakers and regulators kill Section 230. There was never any logical case for this in any way shape or form, but for Trump, revenge is what really matters. Early on in the month, Trump threatened to veto the NDAA. He later renewed his threat after lawmakers correctly pointed out that Internet topics have no place in military spending bills. when it became clear that a law that would gut Section 230 was not forthcoming, Trump continued to threaten a veto.
Now, it seems that Trump has carried through with his threat. Reports are surfacing that says that Trump has used his veto power to defund the military. From CNBC:
President Donald Trump on Wednesday vetoed the sweeping defense bill that authorizes a topline of $740 billion in spending and outlines Pentagon policy.
“Unfortunately, the Act fails to include critical national security measures, includes provisions that fail to respect our veterans and our military’s history, and contradicts efforts by my administration to put America first in our national security and foreign policy actions,” Trump wrote in a lengthy statement to Congress.
“It is a ‘gift’ to China and Russia,” the president added, without citing specific details.
Earlier this month, the National Defense Authorization Act passed both houses of Congress by veto-proof margins, meaning that any veto by Trump would likely be overridden.
Trump has a history for showing disdain towards the military. In once case, Trump reportedly referred to fallen service members as “loser and suckers”. Furthermore, Trump really didn’t react to reports that Russia had put bounties on the heads of American soldiers. So, for him, chances are, defunding the military was no big deal. Instead, it is basically a bargaining chip because he knows other American’s actually value the military.
The only silver lining in all of this is that the copyright court (CASE Act) laws and the felony streaming laws slapped onto the NDAA at the last minute is also in legal limbo. Chances are, though, this is a temporary reprieve.
As CNBC points out, the legislation now goes back to Congress. To our knowledge, the NDAA has never failed to pass before. So, if Congress is unable to get an overriding super majority, it would mark the first time the NDAA has ever failed to pass. This gives Republican’s a choice: defund the military to assuage Trumps ego or support the military. No doubt a lot of observers are curious to see what they choose.
Some analysts suggest that an overriding super majority to fund the military isn’t exactly a slam dunk. Still, it would be a surprise if the US government winds up defunding the military because of a temper tantrum. At any rate, the ball is now in Congress’s court.
Drew Wilson on Twitter: @icecube85 and Facebook.
