No, Shutting Down Another Stimulus Won’t Cost Trump The Election
What makes Trump look worse before the election: trying to get a deal with no success, or pointing out that the other side doesn’t want a deal for political reasons and pulling out of talks?
By Willis L. Krumholz
October 7, 2020
President Trump announced on Twitter that he was shutting down stimulus talks with Democrats until after the election because they were “not negotiating in good faith.†“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,†wrote Trump.
The president continued: “Immediately after I win, we will pass a major Stimulus Bill that focuses on hardworking Americans and Small Business.†Instead, Trump is asking Sen. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to focus on the Amy Coney Barrett Supreme Court nomination in the month before the election.
The criticism started immediately. Corporate media scoffed that now it would look like the lack of a stimulus was all Trump’s fault. Conservatives, especially of the nationalist conservative variety, were quick to criticize Trump for not making a deal with Democrats and for hinting at fiscal conservatism. The key theme was that Trump ending talks with Pelosi would cost him the election.
The criticism is wrongheaded, and a classic example of D.C.-think versus what works in the real world. The disagreement between the White House and House Democrats has little to do with “fiscal conservatism†(which has been dead in D.C. since the halcyon 1950s) or the total dollar amount of proposed spending, and much more to do with what the money does or doesn’t do.
Of course, the situation is fluid and Trump could reverse course within the week—it’s a classic Trump move to end talks only to restart them again. But as of now shutting down talks is the right move and won’t cost Trump the election.
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https://thefederalist.com/2020/10/07/no-shutting-down-another-stimulus-wont-cost-trump-the-election/