Trump cheers on GOP senators for voting for defense bill he said he'd veto

Donald Trump spent Monday morning retweeting Republican senators’ messages of support for a bill he opposes.

Trump has threatened to veto the annual must-pass defense authorization bill because it includes a provision ordering that the names of military bases that honor Confederate officers be changed.

But that did not stop him from sharing at least 18 Senate Republicans’ tweets bragging of their votes in favor of the bill, which passed by a veto-proof 86 to 14 margin on Thursday.

The tweets had been posted by Republican Sens. John Barrasso of Wyoming, Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, Roy Blunt of Missouri, John Boozman of Arkansas, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Mike Crapo of Idaho, Joni Ernst of Iowa, Mike Enzi of Wyoming, Deb Fischer of Nebraska, Cory Gardner of Colorado, John Hoeven of North Dakota, Cindy Hyde-Smith of Mississippi, Jerry Moran of Kansas, Jim Risch of Idaho, Rick Scott of Florida, Dan Sullivan of Alaska, John Thune of South Dakota, and Thom Tillis of North Carolina.

Trump is upset that the bill, which covers more than $740 billion in funding for the nation’s defense for fiscal year 2021, includes an amendment authored by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and adopted with bipartisan support that would require the renaming of military facilities currently named for Confederate generals. He has vowed to veto the entire bill because of it.

Trump tweeted last month that Warren wanted to rename “many of our legendary Military Bases from which we trained to WIN two World Wars. Hopefully our great Republican Senators won’t fall for this.” But Senate Republicans shrugged off Trump’s pro-Confederate position, and an effort by Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri to remove the provision was blocked by the GOP leadership.

A similar bill passed the House last week by a veto-proof 295 to 125 supermajority.

Trump tweeted on Friday that he had spoken with Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Jim Inhofe, who hopes to remove the renaming provisions from the bill during House-Senate conference committee negotiations. “I spoke to highly respected (Chairman) Senator @JimInhofe, who has informed me that he WILL NOT be changing the names of our great Military Bases and Forts, places from which we won two World Wars (and more!),” Trump said. “Like me, Jim is not a believer in ‘Cancel Culture.'”

Politico reported Friday that Inhofe’s effort is unlikely to succeed, citing strong objections from congressional Democrats.

“Bipartisan supermajorities in Congress ignored his pitiful veto threat and we will not suffer any more of his delusional machinations in the President’s desperate attempt at dog-whistle politics,” Democratic Rep. Anthony Brown of Maryland said in a statement.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.