My position has been: 1) no rescue that doesn’t include election protection, 2) no stimulus that isn’t tied to conditions and thus of equal benefit no matter who’s POTUS, 3) no paltry GOP stimulus devised to expire before Jan. A thread on why 1.8T (structured right) is worth it.
https://twitter.com/mattyglesias/status/1315970745701404672
The window for 1 has closed completely, reflecting big strategic errors by Dem leadership. The window for 2 is also closed at least for now, reflecting similar errors and failure of imagination.
But it’s so late now that 3 is also no longer a concern. 1.8T in late October–again, structured right–really will span administrations and come too late to radically alter the trajectory of the election.
Whatever small political advantage Trump draws from it will be more than outweighed by the hedge it will provide Biden against the possibility of a GOP Senate. Which is why I suspect McConnell will kill it.
So make him kill it! Make him break faith with Trump right before the election. Draw attention to his SCOTUS-theft-above-all-else scheme. It’s really hard to know what effect that’d have on Senate politics between now and the election...
... but the best case scenario (derail SCOTUS process, lock in stimulus) is good and the worst case scenario (McConnell does whatever he wants) is the one we’re already in.
Assuming an election sweep (big assumption) Dems either enter January with some running room to govern or with a fresh reminder of the need to undo McConnell’s dirty work. Both seem like better options than just coasting.
This, by contrast, would not be acceptable.
https://twitter.com/pearkes/status/1316050130597040128
Just to round this out, Pelosi (and Schumer) convinced me with their recent comments that the substantive divide here is real and worth holding the line on even though the number is acceptable at least as a stopgap.
https://twitter.com/phil_mattingly/status/1316403955669270529
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