Trump's executives order for pandemic relief will be ineffectual at best and illegal or dead on arrival at worst, but that doesn't mean the White House isn't irrationally confident or convinced of their own genius.
Politico reported this morning that there will be virtually no stimulus talks between the White House and Congressional Democrats this week because Trump's new point man, former Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows, is literally not in Washington.
Moreover, they report that talks may not resume until the end of August if they ever do because Republicans believe Trump's ineffectual orders will be enough.
There are not likely to be any serious talks this week, partly because White House chief of staff Mark Meadows is out for the week but mostly because the administration feels confident they have the upper hand politically following President Donald Trump’s executive actions.
One official said the White House feels it has Democrats in a “real pickle” and if they try and block the executive actions they will look like they are trying to hurt people. This person said that simply splitting the difference on the overall price tag of a deal is not likely to fly.
In fact, we are told it could be weeks before any serious talks resume barring any significant events like Wall Street sell-offs or a run of truly dismal economic data.
From this we can infer that Republicans primarily view this as a strictly political matter with little to no care for what average people are experiencing.
They feel they "have the upper hand politically" because Trump signed some papers, not because the papers mean anything. They're worried about "truly dismal economic data," but that apparently only includes a potential stock market crash, not fresh jobless claims which still haven't fallen below a million per week.
They have Democrats 'in a pickle' they say for purely political reasons, not because their policies are actually good or effective.
If Democrats are in a pickle, it's only because they want to actually govern and the other political party has long ceased to give a shit about anything.
There can't be much of a Democracy when one of two parties literally doesn't care anymore. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell sent his members home for recess for the rest of the month and I suppose that was the right move if they had no plans to do anything anyway.
Over 30 million people are receiving unemployment according to the Labor Department's latest report, but they'll have to wait; Mark Meadows is on vacation.