Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/12/28/house-approves-2000-covid-relief-checks-demanded-by-trump-next-goes-to-gop-led-senate-where-fate-uncertain.html
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I predict that Senate shuts it down, and the GOP will proceed to blame Democrats, and their base will believe it without a moment’s hesitation.
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If those senators want their blanket pardons, they’ll have to vote for it.
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“Fate uncertain”
I think we can be pretty certain what it’s fate will be, based on all the similar bills that Mitch killed in the Senate.
Trump’s whole hissy fit here is kind of baffling. The White House agreed to one thing, Trump then revealed the chaos of his administration by threatening to veto it, but then meekly accepted it, as he apparently had no strategy or clear goals here, but now continues to demand the $2000 checks, without any leverage over the Republicans stopping it (or even acknowledging that’s what’s stopping it). Is this just so Trump can go out looking like a populist (while literally doing nothing to make it happen)? To throw his political weight around for no real reason other than to remind people he still has some? (I don’t see a lot of people making claims that Trump is playing ‘4d chess’ here, because at this point, we all know that when he sees a chessboard, he tries playing tic-tac-toe on it, and cheats. But even for Trump this seems dumb.)
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“Fate Uncertain” is a strange way of spelling “dead on arrival”. It’s not even going to make it to the floor of the Senate, not while Mitch is in charge.
The whole point of this exercise was to make Senators vote against helping Americans, but that’s not going to happen if Mitch just stonewalls it. He doesn’t care. He could rape a guy on the floor of the Senate and still keep his seat. Our hyper-partisan politics means nobody is allowed to use their brain to make decisions. Any deviation from the party line is instant banishment.
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Fuck. Both. Sides. Bullshit.
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Speak for yourself. Don’t insult our intelligence. We have one party that at least has members who try to solve America’s problems, and one party that doesn’thave the ability to track with reality close enough to even see what those problema are.
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Pretty certain, yes, but I wouldn’t be completely surprised if it gets a vote this time around (only to be slapped down by the Republican block.) Mitch has got to be aware that stifling any possibility of a vote could influence the Georgia runoff. If both Democrats take it, he loses his position as Leader.
The best strategic move for him at this point (probably) is to allow the vote, assuming it will fail, at which point he can throw up his hands and deny responsibility for it (even though we know better.)
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In this case the Republican President that everyone in the GOP has debased themselves to support is the one who said Americans should get $2000 relief checks. So if this was simply a matter of hyper-partisanship then the Democrats would be the ones trying to stand in the way.
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Just imagine what would have happened if Trump had actually campaigned on $2000 per person. I shudder to think.
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Not sure it would have moved the needle much either way. It’s not like he’d be campaigning on something better than what the Democrats were already asking for.
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Shameful. Il Douche and Yertle toying with people’s ability to pay their rent and eat in order to try to score points against the Dems.
This. Anyone who engages in that nonsense after decades of bad-faith dealing from conservatives is basically wearing a sandwich board reading “I have no critical thinking skills” (unfortunately, that’s more than 40% of the electorate).
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If this goes to the floor, it’s a way for Trump to fill out his enemies list. The GOP vote will separate the party-loyal senators from the true Trumpists. To the republicans, the outcome of the bill matters much less than the vote.
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And which way will the Georgia senators vote?
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Yes, that’s an interesting question.
They’re in something of a bind here: if they vote against it, Ossoff and Warnock will rightly use the vote against them in the election. And if they vote for it, they’ll piss off Trump and his cult of loons who want to punish the GOP for failing the Orange Shitgibbon.
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I expect the senate wont take it to a vote at all, partially to screen the Georgia senators from scrutiny but also because of the cash giveaway.
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I absolutely agree with you that he wouldn’t be offering anything better than what the Democrats offered – heck, it would be worse, because it would still be tied to Republican ideology while mimicking the Democrats in the weakest way possible – but I have no faith anymore in the population’s ability to avoid shiny distractions and vote against their best interests.
FTFY.
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IDK Mitch might just make this happen. I mean 2k a head is like the proverbial chicken in every pot scenario for politicians after all.
How bad does he want Georgia?
Very badly.
(the G0P will figure out a way to get the money back.)
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