Trump Turning Down Pelosi's Stimulus Deal Is the Worst Political Blunder in History

[BigmanPigman]

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/10/trump-stimulus-deal-coronavirus-worst-mistake-president.html

It is possible Trump — who just yesterday declared his desire to cut a deal — intends this as one of his “clever” negotiating ploys, enabling him to turn around and make a deal that he can paint as a capitulation by his panicked foes. But even if that happens, the window to boost the economy in time to help him (obviously the only consideration Trump cares about) is closing fast. Walking away from the extended hand of an opposition party willing to pump trillions of dollars into the economy may go down as the single greatest political blunder in the history of presidential elections.

Trump has frequently followed his party’s anti-government wing to politically disastrous outcomes. Trump spent most of his first year trying to pass a wildly unpopular partisan repeal of Obamacare, rather than attempting some kind of bipartisan patch-up bill he could rebrand as Trumpcare. He then passed an unpopular tax cut for wealthy heirs and business owners. He abandoned his populist promises to raise his own taxes, crack down on Wall Street, and rebuild infrastructure. All these failures forfeited his crucial 2016 appeal to economic populist swing voters who saw him as more moderate than typical Republicans.

Why did he allow himself to be led by the nose into self-defeating positions? Obviously, Trump knows very little about public policy. He does have some grasp of self-interest though, and has frequently expressed his correct view that it lies in casting aside anti-government dogma and borrowing as much money as he could.

Trump’s zero-sum mindset is one reason he is awful at making deals. If he has indeed walked away from the House’s offer, he has turned down what may have been his last, best chance to win reelection. Presidents have made worse policy choices before. But it is hard to think of a president who has ever made a purely political decision so predictably disastrous.

[OAITW r.2.0]

1. What I am trying to figure out about Trump is his vision for the future.....

but it's obviously subject to his current drug intake level.

[MyOwnPeace]

3. If you EVER find

any evidence of a "vision" that is not related to "Dollars-for-Trump" - please be sure to let us know.

[OAITW r.2.0]

4. If only we could get Trump to eat a few peyote buttons....we might

learn what his vision is.

[msongs]

2. only if dems use it against him effectively. can they? nt

[brush]

6. Oh, you're such an optimist. Dems don't have to do anything.

trump did it to himself. He rejected the relief bill. The nation knows that and will vote him out in four weeks. Not just because of this last straw, but because of all the covid stupidness, and paying no taxes, and soldiers are suckers and losers.

[Make7]

5. In the next week, I would like to see state and local governments announce projected layoffs and...

... reductions in food and housing assistance programs if Federal dollars are not available to make up some of the shortfalls caused by the Covid pandemic. And I'd like to see that used in ads with the GOP repeatedly saying businesses needed Federal bailouts because of circumstances that "were no fault of their own".

[underpants]

7. Scorched earth or just an impulse?

Scorched earth - leave a disaster for Dems and hang it on them in the midterms seems vengeful and mean but who are we talking about? I mean the whole GOP not just Trump. He’ll be gone.

This seems like an impulse move. He surely is in communication with advisers but he’s also almost completely alone. I’ve heard that because Mitch couldn’t get the votes that this would be seen as the Dems doing and they’d get all the credit. Okay, possibly-probably. I get the ideological element that Chait spells out but that’s not going to buy Christmas gifts.

I don’t get this at all. This was a Merry Christmas and directly paying for votes with someone else’s money. It struck me as a disaster when I first heard about it this afternoon.

[The Magistrate]

8. Till Tuesday, Sir

The breakdown is looking total --- real 'Hitler in the Bunker' stuff.

Americans are not worthy of His Magnificence, and must suffer for it, even be expunged if they cannot see the Light!!!


"The floggings will continue till morale improves."

[dalton99a]

9. +1

[Blue Owl]

10. Add it to the list

n/t

[Dopers_Greed]

11. He knows he is losing

And just wants to torch the entire country

[benld74]

12. He and the GOP are tearing it all down

On their way out! They don’t care. Never did.
ALL they care about is that effin judge!
After that it’s torch it all. They know Biden will win.
They’ll leave him with massive debt, agencies in shambles, total distrust in government, and possible moles everywhere.
Latest is he is declassifying a bunch of redacted documents. Possibly showing names nobody needs to know

Sort of in a crappy mood,,,