Thread by @dropoutnation

Except that @AOC asked for the $2,000 after the $600 payout was negotiated by House Democrats, Senate Republicans and the Trump regime. Which was never enough to start. Now Biden is still not providing the $2,000 when folks need the money.

The Member from New York is correct.

https://twitter.com/charles_gaba/status/1350094546554810370

You can argue that AOC shouldn't have taken to media to make her case. But she's a Member of Congress and can use any of the tools at her disposal to do so. In any case, she is correct that what Biden is proposing isn't nearly good enough. Also, Biden only responds to pressure.

It is only B.S. to you because you are more-aligned with Biden and his wing of the Democratic Party than with AOC's wing.

https://twitter.com/charles_gaba/status/1350112514974109697

The reality is that $2,000 is not enough and when Biden stepped into this, he basically agreed to give $2,000 (even if he 'meant' just another $1,400). Biden should have just did the $2,000 because we all know that another $1,400 isn't enough.

https://twitter.com/charles_gaba/status/1350112785380880384

Bernie praised it as a 'very strong first installment'. Which means that he expects more than just another $1,400. But because he has a closer relationship with Biden than AOC does, he's not going to press hard right now. @charles_gaba

https://twitter.com/SenSanders/status/1349880150041780227

This, by the way, is where AOC could have done better. Politics is the art of the possible, and the reality is that with rather tenuous control of the Senate, Biden has to get as much possible as he can. @charles_gaba

I agree with AOC that Biden should be more-aggressive. But there's Joe Manchin sitting right there threatening to derail everything good because he's a White Supremacist DINO who cares only about getting re-elected. So Biden does what he can. @charles_gaba

This point, by the way...

https://twitter.com/whetstone/status/1350114225201397760

Ultimately, AOC is right to push Biden on this. That's her job. She's not here just to play nice for the president-elect; she's also fighting for other Americans, including those in her district who really need way more than $1,400 or even $2K.

https://twitter.com/charles_gaba/status/1350114289584119808

Biden is doing the art of the possible. But AOC is also fighting to make more possible. If more folks (including Manchin's constituents) demand $2,000, Manchin has to give. Which means Biden moves. Or Biden tells Manchin to do it or lose something he really wants. @charles_gaba

Activists and Members of Congress working the outside are the ones who push the folks closer to the center to change. That's how life works. And AOC is doing it right - even if Center-Whites don't like it. @charles_gaba

Meanwhile as WillyWicki notes, Biden forgets that the average American isn't going to do a whole lot of mental math to understand what he's doing.

He should just push for the $2,000 and avoid disappointing folks out there.

https://twitter.com/WickiWilly/status/1350115674681700353

There are, by the way, other reasons why Biden should just give the $2,000. Starting with the latest economic news.

https://twitter.com/Claudia_Sahm/status/1350077801861410817

I forgot this, by the way (and @charles_gaba probably forgot this, too). The promise of $2,000 was, along with the work of LaTosha Brown, Stacey Abrams and other Black folks, the key to Ossof and Warnock winning their races.

You keep the promises made.

https://twitter.com/WickiWilly/status/1350118785248845830

For most folks, that's $2,000, and in their minds, above the $600 given. Not $1,400 on top of $600.

This is also correct...

https://twitter.com/rebeccanagle/status/1350122512324190208

I talk to real live people who aren't in policy. This includes folks who drive buses as well as fix cars for a living. Ask them about the $2,000 and they thought they were getting an additional $2,000.

That's how Joe Average thinks. We're not Joe.

https://twitter.com/charles_gaba/status/1350135144594743298

Let me remind you of this: If you are the person tweeting or putting together newsletters on healthcare issues, you aren't the average person. So don't assume that how you think is how the person working out there in that blue collar life thinks.

That's on you.

https://twitter.com/charles_gaba/status/1350136116452745218

I'm also Black, so the chances of me knowing everyday people is far greater because they also happen to be my relatives and neighbors. As well as folks I deal with in areas such as education.