No Stimulus For The Administration

A week ago Nancy Pelosi and Steve Mnuchin seemed close to a comprehensive stimulus package. Then Trump scuttled the talks. Then he called for smaller deals to jumpstart specific sectors of the economy, which Pelosi immediately rejected. Now Pelosi and Mnuchin are discussing money for the airline industry. And Trump has reversed course again and called for a comprehensive package.

Democrats shouldn’t reward the president’s unfathomably erratic behavior. Though the economy needs a stimulus, money from any bill wouldn’t immediately help people in need. Pelosi shouldn’t help him goose the markets and take a victory lap this close to the election.  

Democrats need every advantage these last few weeks. Trump will never allow them to get credit for a stimulus package, but he would surely make its passage his closing argument in these last few weeks of the campaign.

For the good of their constituents, Dems have passed spending bills even when it helps Trump. But what’s been good for him hasn’t been politically helpful to them. The public doesn’t credit them for the economy’s success or for ensuring it didn’t collapse after Covid hit. Trump has banished them from signing ceremonies and made the successes of the economy his own.

Now, finally, it seems Democrats are playing Republican-style hardball.  Maybe. There’s still a possibility that Pelosi will hand Trump one or more small stimulus packages. That would be a mistake.

The country can wait a month for the stimulus.  Joe Biden and Democrats running for office can’t.

The Fed (presumably representing the business community) had made clear the economy needs the stimulus.  Mnuchin seems to be negotiating in good faith (or the Republican version of it).   He appears to be a conventional big business Republican, conservative but not a corrupt Trump loony. 

But the buck literally stops at the President’s desk. Let it stay there till after the election.

Democrats should make it clear to the public who’s acting in their interest.  Republicans own the country’s economy. Let them. Maybe now folks will realize who’s on their side. 

Democrats should look eager to help the American people. They should continue negotiating with the administration. But they should make it clear that the failure to help the economy and provide relief to industries and individuals is entirely the fault of Trump and the Republican Senate.