Reports say that McConnell is shocked that Democrats unanimously rejected his atrocious coronavirus bill. That may be play-acting; but if it isn't, he really doesn't get where we are — either the nature of the crisis or why Trump's record matters 1/
First of all, it's true that we have probably lost several million jobs just over the past week — with millions more to come. But these job losses are due to virus-related disruptions, and can't be fixed with stimulus 2/
It's true that we need fiscal stimulus to limit the number of second-round job losses, but that response isn't as urgent as providing help to hospitals and people who are unavoidably losing their jobs — help McConnell refuses to provide. So no need to give in to bum's rush 3/
McConnell also crafted a bill in which we're supposed to depend on the honesty and good judgment of the Trump administration — the Trump administration! — in disbursing hundreds of billions to businesses, without even having to disclose the beneficiaries until months later. 4/
The arrogance would be hard to believe even if Trump didn't have a track record of lying and self-dealing every step of the way, very much including his response to Covid-19. 5/
This isn't 9/11, when people rallied around a president they assumed would serve the nation's interest (and who used that misguided trust to take us to war on false pretenses). Trump doesn't deserve and won't get any benefit of the doubt. 6/
House Dems blew the opportunity to get in front of this, but I think they understand that now and will soon have their own bill, which will surely be infinitely better. No reason at all to let Trump's allies define the response 7/
And if McConnell refuses to agree to deal with real problems and insists that Trump have a secret slush fund, it won't be Dems who are sabotaging the economy 8/
