Trump's legacy is looking worse than terrible

With only 23 days before he is due to (last two words filled with trepidation) leave the White House and retire to his resort palace in Florida, Donald Trump seems hell-bent on destroying whatever legacy he thought he had built up after four years in the job. Refusing to sign the Covid-19 relief settlement approved by Congress and also refusing to sign the defence bill, he is going to make millions of people very very unhappy and short of money and desperate in the winter months. Ok, he won't sign the relief settlement because he wants to give every citizen $2,000 instead of $600. But politics and life are all about compromise. It was a miracle that the Republicans and Democrats actually agreed a settlement and Trump should take that and go with it and make a song and dance about the financial help he is spreading around the country just when they need it. Instead he went off to Florida to play golf as if he didn't care a fig for the rest of the country. This guy has no idea about good PR. He just thinks he knows best and until he gets what he wants he plays golf. Trump should take a leaf out of Boris Johnson's book. Boris fought hard for a Brexit trade deal and played tough, as all negotiators have to, but in the end he compromised. He didn't get everything he wanted but neither did the EU. What he did get was a deal which brought instant relief to every business in the country and the prospects of a better future. For Trump to refuse to sign the relief settlement bill was like Boris refusing to agree a Brexit trade deal because he didn't get what he wanted on the fisheries issue. What Boris and Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, did at the last moment was wonderful to hear about and summed up what negotiations are all about. Boris wanted the shortest possible transition period before the UK had total control over its territorial waters and total control over how many fish anyone else in the EU could snatch from our waters. In the final telephone call between Boris and Ursula, the EU president said six years. Boris said five. Then a long silence and Ursula said five and a half. Boris said yes ok. Deal done. Where are Trump's supposedly famous negotiating powers? Months ago when the latest Covid relief bill was being discussed he could have started with $2,000 cheques for all and then settled on, say, $1,200, the same as the first payment handed out. Both sides of Congress might have agreed on that. Now it's too late. Trump has gone off in a huff and millions of people who had been waiting for their government cheque are getting zero. Not to mention the impact it's having on the stock market and therefore the US economy. A lot of people in the US, including senior Republicans, are saying this is the legacy Trump will be remembered for. Get real, Mr President.