[Drew68]

Why not “Trump refuses to fund gender studies in Pakistan”?

He was originally fine with it.

[JudgemAll]

True that and disappointing, however there is the context that back then he was playing the art of the deal, assuming people plaid fair and did not cheat elections.

Trump was naive.

[mrsmith]

Trump's budget proposals were made back in March- before the virus and lockdowns.
It's a lie to present them as contemporary. Lots has changed.

This fact also brings up another problem with Congress holding bills to the last-minute (beside the obvious)... they're out of date!

[OldGoatCPO]

PDJT was negotiating and was planning on other things to build the economy in February. While he is still fighting it is becoming a rear guard action and he can no longer plan to be around in February to save the economy. He was willing to go along to get along and save the GOP leadership the embarrassment of not getting something done before Christmas.

After McConnell screwed him last week, Trump no longer needs to get along. This is realistically Trumps last chance to do something for the people who supported him.

The other possibility is that Trump wants to lay this burning bag of $hit on Biden's doorstep. If Biden steps on it and signs off on the Porkulus, when the economy goes south, which it will, Biden owns it because his name was on the last budget. His name is on the Executive Orders that create massive regulations and tanked the economy. Trump will say, I tried to stop it, this mess is on Slow Joe. I am leaning towards this being the case as old Joe is pushing Trump to sign it.

If I were Trump I would veto it. Let them go back to square one. Hold a rally on 6 Jan 2021 and the fly to Israel for an extended vacation and maybe build a new golf resort in UAE. Let Don Jr and others put together a MAGA party for 2022. Let's be honest, Trump will do better as the voice of the opposition. His rallies for MAGA candidates will be awesome.

[be-baw]

A congress critter I saw on tv a couple hours ago said those requests were made before the pandemic. I don’t know if that’s true or not. For that matter I’m not sure it makes any difference if those requests weren’t formally withdrawn.