Trump airs his grievances about the pandemic relief package for Festivus

Happy Festivus! I thought I had a choice of angles yesterday, when I wrote "I might have more airing of grievances or feats of strength tomorrow, because it's Festivus." I should have know better, because it's always Festivus for Donald Trump; the man airs his grievances constantly!*

CBS News brings today's grievance from the soon-to-be-ex-President, Trump delays signing of $900 billion COVID-19 relief package.

President Trump has not yet signed the bipartisan $900 billion COVID-19 economic relief bill passed by Congress. He says he wants the individual stimulus checks to be larger, something Democrats have been fighting for. CBS News’ Debra Alfarone joined “CBSN AM” with the latest.

CBS News reported stronger language from Trump as well as analyzed the effects of his proposal in Trump calls $900 billion COVID-19 deal a “disgrace.”

President Trump ordered Congress to revise its bipartisan $900 billion COVID-19 economic relief package, calling it a “disgrace.” He’s calling for stimulus checks to be raised from $600 to $2,000 each. CBS News national correspondent Chip Reid joined “CBSN AM” with the latest.

As much as it pains me to write it, I think Trump's right; the stimulus checks should be larger and $2000 sounds about right. Even a stuck clock is right twice a day. On the other, he had plenty of time to make his wishes known before both houses of Congress passed the bill with veto-proof majorities. I suspect Chip Reid is right that this is merely an exercise in showing that Trump is still relevant by creating chaos and that it might just pass after either Trump signs the bill or Congress overrides his veto. If so, that would be a Festivus miracle. If Congress amends the bill to increase the stimulus payment, that would be a real miracle. The worst would be if Trump's actions result in no stimulus package and a government shutdown. That would be a disaster. It's enough to drive me to drink.

Fortunately, Us Weekly has just the recipe for today, Holiday Cocktail How-To: Make Seinfeld's Festivus for Your Next Party.

A Festivus for the rest of us! There are plenty of reasons to celebrate this time of year. We asked Bryan Schneider, the bar director for Quality Branded — which runs NYC hot spot Squares, where Kendall Jenner and A$AP Rocky have been spotted — to dream up a crowd-pleasing holiday cocktail for Us.

It may not be "something bitter for an airing of grievances," but the grapefruit and cucumber get it close enough. Happy Festivus!

*I'm going to be a good environmentalist and recycle the following cartoon for the occasion.


As I wrote many times and repeated just last week, "I'm looking forward to not having to pay attention to Donald Trump again.  I'll just have to wait until January 20, 2021 for that to be completely true."