Donald Trump Eases Back
Into Work by Choking the Economy to Death
The president has
torpedoed stimulus talks, telling suffering Americans to bother someone else
with their so-called problems.
BY BESS
LEVIN
OCTOBER 6, 2020
When Donald
Trump was discharged from the hospital on Monday, his doctors—one of
whom told reporters the president may not yet be “out of the
woods”—probably hoped he’d have an uneventful few days resting in the executive
residence and not getting up to anything too wild. Instead he decided to send
the stock market tumbling and torpedo the economy because...well, actually,
nobody can explain why he did it other than to say he’s stark raving mad and
decided to torch America on his way out the door.
At 2:48 p.m. on Tuesday, Trump tweeted: “Nancy Pelosi is asking for $2.4
Trillion Dollars to bailout poorly run, high crime, Democrat States,
money that is in no way related to COVID-19. We made a very generous offer
of $1.6 Trillion Dollars and, as usual, she is not negotiating in good faith. I
am rejecting their request, and looking to the future of our Country. I have
instructed my representatives to stop negotiating until after the election
when, immediately after I win, we will pass
a major Stimulus Bill that focuses on hardworking Americans and Small
Business. I have asked @senatemajldr Mitch McConnell not
to delay, but to instead focus full time on approving my outstanding
nominee to the United States Supreme Court, Amy Coney
Barrett. Our Economy is doing very well. The Stock Market is
at record levels, JOBS and unemployment also coming back in record numbers. We
are leading the World in Economic Recovery, and THE BEST IS YET TO COME!”
Immediately thereafter, this happened:
While it’s not clear if the regimen of steroids he’s on caused Trump
to make this announcement, or if he’s just moved up another level on the
“crazier than a shithouse mouse” scale, it’s impossible to overstate how
destructive and politically inexplicable this move was. For one
thing, Democrats’ push for a larger stimulus package would have helped Trump’s
reelection chances, injecting trillions of much-needed dollars into the
economy. (You remember the economy, right? That thing he’s trying to propel
himself to another term on the basis of?)
For another, it would have prevented countless evictions and
foreclosures, helped states fund essential services, prevented small businesses
from going under, and given hospitals preparing for another COVID-19 wave money
for stuff like PPE. As Bloomberg noted:
The consequences of the
withdrawal of federal fiscal support are tangible and immediate. American
Airlines Group Inc. and United Airlines Holdings Inc. said they
would start laying off 32,000 workers, blaming expiring government
aid. Walt Disney Co. is slashing 28,000 jobs while Allstate
Corp., the fourth-largest car insurer in the U.S., is cutting 3,800, roughly 8%
of its workforce.
Trump’s announcement came just hours after Federal Reserve
chairman Jerome Powell basically begged Congress for more
fiscal stimulus, saying to not do so could “lead to a weak recovery, creating
unnecessary hardship for households and businesses.” In a statement,
Pelosi said, “Once
again President Trump showed his true colors: putting himself first at the
expense of the country, with the full complicity of the GOP members of
Congress.… Clearly the White House is in complete disarray.” She also reportedly wondered
if this decision, affecting hundreds of millions of people, occurred because
the president of the United States is hopped up on drugs:
In addition to informing
suffering Americans that they’ll have to just keep suffering, until November at
the earliest, Trump’s market-tumbling tweet naturally contained some trademark
massive lies. Namely, that the economy is on fire. As the Washington
Post’s Catherine Rampell noted, Trump
is actually the worst jobs president in history and is on track to leave office
with fewer jobs than when he started. Also, if the economy were truly kicking
as much ass as the president loves to claim it is, it wouldn’t need a stimulus
of even $1.6 trillion. And if you don’t believe it, just ask Trump from three
days ago:
At this time it’s hard to
imagine Trump could do anything worse to hurt his election chances, but we
still have 28 days to go till November 3, giving him plenty of time to tweet a
video of himself smothering a WWII vet with a pillow.