In an unprecedented move, President Donald Trump successfully got his name stamped onto the COVID-19 relief checks that many Americans will soon be receiving.
Now he’s being slammed online for the blatant self-glorification and the possibility that the payments will be delayed as a result.
Several Democratic lawmakers and other critics pointed out the obvious: Trump putting his name on the taxpayer-funded checks is an attempt to take credit for the payments as he refuses to take responsibility for his administration’s failure to quickly respond to the coronavirus pandemic:
17 million people have lost their jobs.
Millions can’t pay rent, afford food, and are sinking into debt.
And the president is delaying relief for them so he can see his name on a check.
Trump first, America second.https://t.co/zEcta20fTH
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) April 15, 2020
Donald Trump is further delaying cash payments to millions of Americans struggling to pay the rent and put food on the table to feed his ego. Only this president would try to make a pandemic and economic catastrophe all about him. https://t.co/YTNFM7fuR3
— Ron Wyden (@RonWyden) April 15, 2020
Checks needed to pay the rent and put food on the table may be delayed for several more days.
Why?
Donald Trump insists on having his name printed on them.
You can’t trust Donald Trump to do what’s right for America.
You can only trust him to do what’s good for Donald Trump. https://t.co/M0XeVciZnS
— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) April 15, 2020
Trump’s North Star in decisions:”Me, Me, Me, Me, Me, Me.””What will it do for me?””How will it make me look?””How will I benefit financially, politically, optically?”
His quests for self-aggrandizement & personal enrichment are proving lethal to Americans https://t.co/iMEde5OtUW
— Samantha Power (@SamanthaJPower) April 15, 2020
Donald Trump's name will appear on checks that might slightly mitigate the Donald Trump depression caused by the Donald Trump pandemic. We're supposed to put his name on everything, right? https://t.co/y9ZvXuRS9F
— Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) April 15, 2020
If you wonder where your stimulus check is, it is delayed so that Trump’s name could be added, even though it is Congress that authorized the payments. This is public money, not Trump’s money. https://t.co/W0hrXczH9H
— Barb McQuade (@BarbMcQuade) April 15, 2020
The President insisting his name be on relief checks (unlike any other President), and thus delaying them, is peak Trump. As is the case with the majority of buildings bearing his name not actually belonging to him, this money doesn’t either. It comes from taxpayers.
— Bianna Golodryga (@biannagolodryga) April 15, 2020
Lawrence Summers, a former treasury secretary under President Bill Clinton, swiped at Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin for pandering to Trump’s demand in the first place:
A Secretary of the @USTreasury who permits this is a dangerous sycophant. This is using government as a propaganda tool. I would have resigned over the issue.https://t.co/PmMLrDwEoA
— Lawrence H. Summers (@LHSummers) April 15, 2020
And given the disastrous consequences of the Trump administration’s delayed response to the coronavirus pandemic, some people proposed a better place to put Trump’s name:
If he's going to put his name on stimulus checks, then his name also belongs on every death certificate that resulted from his 70-day delay in taking action. https://t.co/iX07X0cByT
— Chris Lu (@ChrisLu44) April 15, 2020
We should print Trump’s name on the death certificates of the 25,000 Americans who have died from coronavirus while we’re at it. https://t.co/4UL4warJ8y
— Kaili Joy Gray (@KailiJoy) April 15, 2020