President Donald Trump's mission to undermine the next presidential administration on his way out of office took a dark new turn last week, one with dire implications for struggling business owners across America. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin moved to end emergency lending programs by the end of December and claw back hundreds of billions in unspent funding — actions that seem designed to hobble President-elect Joe Biden's attempts to stabilize the economy when he takes office on Jan. 20.

In the context of everything else Trump is doing, this is clearly deliberate economic sabotage. If it doesn't prompt Missouri Sens. Roy Blunt and Josh Hawley, along with most of their Republican colleagues in Congress, to finally end their shameful silence and stand up to Trump, they should never again claim to care about America's economy.

Mnuchin on Thursday informed the Federal Reserve he won't extend several major emergency lending programs for businesses beyond the end of the year. The Fed, which works in tandem with Treasury on the programs, responded with a rare public rebuke, suggesting the move threatens "our still strained and vulnerable economy." Democrats accuse Mnuchin of purposefully trying to limit the economic stimulus options Biden will have when he takes office. Mnuchin denies politics had any role in his decision.

There are strong reasons not to believe that. One is that Republicans outside Trump's circle and independent voices are expressing alarm about the move. It's not just Fed Chairman Jerome Powell — a Trump appointee — but also the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which warns that this "prematurely and unnecessarily ties the hands" of the incoming president.

Then there's the timing of the announcement. Why now, as the pandemic rages, businesses are hurting and Congress has failed to pass a new relief package, is it so important that Mnuchin yank funds that allow the flexibility to quickly extend emergency business loans? It makes no sense except as part of Trump's broader campaign of salting the soil ahead of Biden's inauguration.

Trump is refusing to allow routine transition groundwork, blocking Biden from national security or pandemic briefings, purging competent government officials to replace them with cronies and, of course, refusing to concede an election he lost. All this malice is aimed at Biden, with America's democracy — and its people — sacrificed as collateral damage, by a president who couldn't care less. In that context, the reasoning behind Mnuchin's baffling decision to undermine a fragile economic recovery becomes distressingly clear.

How America fares after Trump leaves office will depend largely on whether he is allowed to spend his remaining weeks burning everything down. Blunt, Hawley and their GOP colleagues must either stand up and stop him or go down in history as his accomplices. There is no in-between.

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