{"id":88850,"date":"2020-12-31T17:10:52","date_gmt":"2020-12-31T22:10:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/?p=88850"},"modified":"2020-12-31T17:11:06","modified_gmt":"2020-12-31T22:11:06","slug":"the-daily-gouge-archive-wednesday-december-30th-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/?p=88850","title":{"rendered":"The Daily Gouge Archive, Wednesday, December 30th, 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s Wednesday, December 30th, 2020…but before we begin, the Editorial Board at the WSJ<\/em> correctly calls out an increasingly irrational individual, as they recount how…<\/strong><\/p>\n

Trump Gives Schumer an Assist<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/h1>\n

The President writes a $2,000 check to make Democrats the majority<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/h3>\n

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President Trump finally signed the Covid-19 relief bill and 2021 budget on Sunday night, but not before giving a big assist to Democratic hopes of gaining control of the Senate in the two runoff elections on Jan. 5<\/span><\/em>. Current GOP Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is left this week trying to undo the significant political damage.<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Mr. Trump had been insisting<\/span><\/em> that Congress write checks<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>of $2,000 each<\/em><\/span> to most Americans, rather than the $600 in the bill<\/span><\/em>.<\/span> His own Treasury Secretary<\/span><\/em>, Steven Mnuchin, <\/span>negotiated the $600 figure<\/span><\/em>. <\/span>But after<\/span><\/em> the bill passed, Mr. Trump decided that wasn\u2019t enough<\/span><\/em>.<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Never mind that the $2,000 would go to<\/span> tens of millions of Americans who have kept their jobs and maintained their incomes<\/span><\/em> during the pandemic. It would also add<\/span><\/em> some $350 billion<\/em><\/span> or more to a federal deficit that is already into the trillions of dollars<\/span><\/em>.<\/span> The economy won\u2019t benefit<\/span><\/em> since the recipients aren\u2019t<\/span><\/em> going to change their behavior knowing it\u2019s merely a one-time check<\/em><\/span>.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Senate Republicans oppose the $2,000 for these sound reasons, but Mr. Trump has put them in a political spot<\/span><\/em>.<\/span> Democrats immediately joined<\/span><\/em> Mr. Trump\u2019s call for the $2,000, and on Monday they passed the larger amount through the House, 275-134.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

That leaves Mr. McConnell with a tough call of barring a vote as Democrats bang away in TV ads in Georgia against GOP incumbents David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler. <\/span>Or he can hold a vote, which would split the GOP caucus and upset fiscally conservative voters. Either way<\/span><\/em> it amounts to a\u00a0Donald Trump\u00a0in-kind contribution to Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and\u00a0Joe Biden<\/span><\/em>.<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

By all accounts Mr. Trump is angry about his election defeat, and he is lashing out at anyone who won\u2019t indulge his hopeless campaign to overturn it. This includes<\/span><\/em> Senate Republicans, who need to win in Georgia to retain their majority and block Mr. Biden\u2019s ability to indulge the Democratic left.<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Mr. Trump\u2019s narcissism isn\u2019t news. But if Republicans lose the two Georgia seats and their majority, Republicans across the country should know to thank Mr. Trump for their 2021 tax increase.<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

This is yet another example of life imitating art, for while in Top Gun<\/em>…<\/strong><\/p>\n