THE ART OF THE NO DEAL

Trump Sets Himself Up for Veto Humiliation Before Leaving Office

The president tweeted that he would veto a key defense bill that passed both the House and Senate with veto-proof majorities.

President Donald Trump again warned on Twitter Sunday that he would veto the annual National Defense Authorization Act, despite the measure winning overwhelming majorities in both the House and Senate. In one of a barrage of morning tweets, the president wrote, “THE BIGGEST WINNER OF OUR NEW DEFENSE BILL IS CHINA!. I WILL VETO!”

The president has threatened to veto the must-past bill before. Specifically, he has insisted lawmakers attach a repeal of Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act, which protects social-media companies from liability over posts on their platforms. The demand came as Twitter and Facebook belatedly began flagging false and inflammatory content from the president, especially as pertains to his loss to Joe Biden and bogus claims of election fraud. In essence, the president appears to be renewing a vow to obstruct national security because he is mad at what people are allowed to say about him and his election humiliation on the Internet.

The bill passed 84 to 13 in the Senate on Friday and 335 to 78 in the House last week. In threatening to veto the $740 billion bill, Trump has effectively forced GOP lawmakers to choose between a fresh demonstration of fealty to him by not overriding his veto and handing him another loss before he leaves office in January.