He'll sign

Donald Trump has signed the Covid-19 relief and spending bill after days of delays, preventing a mid-pandemic government shutdown.

[...]

Sunday night Trump released a statement that he had signed the bill, saying it was his “responsibility to protect the people of our country from the economic devastation and hardship” caused by coronavirus.

“As president, I have told Congress that I want far less wasteful spending and more money going to the American people in the form of $2,000 checks per adult and $600 per child.

“I will sign the omnibus and Covid package with a strong message that makes clear to Congress that wasteful items need to be removed. I will send back to Congress a redlined version, item by item, accompanied by the formal rescission request to Congress insisting that those funds be removed from the bill.

  Guardian

What does that mean? Jack shit?

It was not immediately clear why Trump changed his mind as his resistance to the massive legislative package promised a chaotic final stretch of his presidency.

I don't know. Maybe the stock market?

Stock markets in Asia ticked upwards on news that Trump had signed the bill, and US stock futures rose 0.4%.

[...]

Earlier on Sunday, Republican senator Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania said he understood that Trump “wants to be remembered for advocating for big checks, but the danger is he’ll be remembered for chaos and misery and erratic behavior if he allows this to expire”.

Toomey added: “So I think the best thing to do, as I said, sign this and then make the case for subsequent legislation.”

The same point was echoed by Maryland’s governor, Larry Hogan, a Republican who has criticised Trump’s pandemic response and his efforts to undo the election results. “I just gave up guessing what he might do next,” he said.

Republican representative Adam Kinzinger of Illinois said too much was at stake for Trump to “play this old switcheroo game”.

“I don’t get the point,” he said. “I don’t understand what’s being done, why, unless it’s just to create chaos and show power and be upset because you lost the election.”

[...]

And already, his opposition has had consequences, as two federal programs providing unemployment aid expired on Saturday.

Lauren Bauer of the Brookings Institution had calculated that at least 11 million people would lose aid immediately as a result of Trump’s failure to sign the legislation; millions more would exhaust other unemployment benefits within weeks.

How and when people are affected by the lapse depends on the state they live in, the program they are relying on and when they applied for benefits.

In some states, people on regular unemployment insurance will continue to receive payments under a program that extends benefits when the jobless rate surpassed a certain threshold.

[...]

About 9.5 million people, however, had been relying on the pandemic unemployment assistance program that expired altogether Saturday. That program made unemployment insurance available to freelancers, gig workers and others normally not eligible. After receiving their last checks, those recipients will not be able to file for more aid, Stettner said.

Thank you, President Trump. Despicable POS.

Joe Biden, who won November’s presidential election and who will be sworn in as Trump’s successor on 20 January, accused him of an “abdication of responsibility” in a statement on Saturday.

And that's being kind.

Trump was going to sign the bill as soon as it was probable that Congress would override his veto.  He couldn't stand being a loser over that, too.  Mostly, he just wanted to throw another tantrum and suck up journalistic oxygen.  His worst nightmare will be when Biden outpaces him in media coverage.  Well, second worst.  First is that his criminal finance activities will be revealed in New York courts.

UPDATE: