I am not watching the impeachment trial. I’m tired of feeling like a raw wound. I’ll catch highlights tonight on cable. Instead, I’d rather focus on something positive and note that Paul Krugman is very, very happy about the Biden covid package.
Krugman begins by citing a column he wrote in January 2009. in which he warned that president-elect Obama’s economic stimulus plan was way too cautious and fell short of what was needed in the wake of the 2008 financial sector meltdown. And while the package did some good, it was widely perceived as a failure. And President Obama didn’t get another opportunity to enact more stimulus.
The good news — and it’s really, really good news — is that Democrats seem to have learned their lesson. Joe Biden may not look like the second coming of F.D.R.; Chuck Schumer, presiding over a razor-thin majority in the Senate, looks even less like a transformational figure; yet all indications are that together they’re about to push through an economic rescue plan that, unlike the Obama stimulus, truly rises to the occasion.
In fact, the plan is aggressive enough that some Democratic-leaning economists worry that it will be too big, risking inflation. However, I’ve argued at length that they’re wrong — or, more precisely, that, as Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen says, the risks of doing too little outweigh any risk of overheating the economy. In fact, a plan that wasn’t big enough to raise some concerns about overheating would have been too small.
“Some Democratic-leaning economists” = Lawrence Summers, I suspect. Summers must be confused about why people aren’t taking him seriously any more. Back to Krugman:
One thing that may be encouraging Democrats, by the way, is the fact that Biden’s policies actually are unifying, if you look at public opinion rather than the actions of politicians. Biden’s Covid-19 relief plan commands overwhelming public approval — far higher than approval for Obama’s 2009 stimulus. If, as seems likely, not a single Republican in Congress votes for the plan, that’s evidence of G.O.P. extremism, not failure on Biden’s part to reach out.
This is an important point. When Biden talks about unifying the country, I believe he means exactly that. Not unifying the Senate or unifying the political parties. It appears so far he’s not even going to try to placate Republicans in Congress; he’s going to do what the people need doing, and if Republicans don’t like it they can go home and explain themselves to their constituents.
From yesterday’s Politico:
Already, there’s talk about midterm attack ads portraying Republicans as willing to slash taxes for the wealthy but too stingy to cut checks for people struggling during the deadly pandemic. And President Joe Biden’s aides and allies are vowing not to make the same mistakes as previous administrations going into the midterms elections. They are pulling together plans to ensure Americans know about every dollar delivered and job kept because of the bill they’re crafting. And there is confidence that the Covid-19 relief package will ultimately emerge not as a liability for Democrats, but as an election year battering ram.
Yes, yes, yes. This is how it’s done, Dems.
Always there are some people who don’t get memos. Some of the “moderate” Dems wanted to be more frugal with the direct payments. But it appears the progressives have defeated this. Cristina Cabrera writes at TPM that “moderate Democrats had proposed lowering the cap to $50,000 for individual filers and $100,000 for couples before the amounts per payment begin to phase out.”
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Senate Budget Committee Chair Bernie Sanders (I-VT) blasted the proposals to lower the thresholds on Saturday.
“It would be outrageous if we ran on giving more relief and ended up doing the opposite,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted.
“In other words, working class people who got checks from Trump would not get them from Biden. Brilliant!” Sanders tweeted.
To which some of the “moderates” must have said, oh, yeah. Duh. The former caps remain in place. And yesterday they added a provision that would give millions of families $3,000 per child.
Maybe if Democrats get used to throwing their weight around, next they’ll kill the filibuster. Oh, please ….
Elsewhere — Aaron Blake writes about the sodden mess that is Trump’s impeachment defense.
Watch this video that was shown in the Trump impeachment trial this morning. Just watch it.
I am not watching the impeachment trial. I’m tired of feeling like a raw wound.
Unplug and trust that things are getting better. It’s been great putting some distance between myself and the national tragedy (begun when Twitter pulled the plug on you know who).
Ok, maha, I watched that video.
Oy… "The horror… The horror… The horror"
And I'm rewatching it, because Chris Hayes has the full video on his great show – foul language, violence, and every horrible thing in it.
It speaks volumes.
OT: But watching the beginning of it, I have to admit a guilty pleasure: It's a favorite few seconds that make me laugh every time I watch it. It's tRUMP, at the beginning, when he seems to channel Jerry Lewis as he says, "To the Capitol!" I swear: It' Jerry! Or is it just me? But after that second, nothing else I've seen in that video makes me want to do anything but cry, or scream. Or both.
That video shows everyone what mob violence looks like. Needless to say, it's terrifying.
After watching that video, any shadow of doubt I might have harbored over the last month about the potential of that mob to hang Pence, or rape and kill AOC, went flying out the window.
I have no doubt they'd have lynched Pence, And Democrats of color. Hell, they'd have lynched White Democrats for siding with POC.
And I have no doubt they'd have found ways to torture victims.
But despite their many transgressions, the RepubliKKKLANS have been given a "blessing;" a chance; a shot at a bit of redemption: Find tRUMP guilty. Impeach him. Never allow him to run for office again.
You won't become heroes, RepubliKKKLANS. But you can save some small degree of dignity. Right now, you have none. You sold what little you had before to tRUMP. And for what? For anti-abortion judges. And anti-progressive judges.
The republican party has a problem, If they convict Trump and ban him from office again they will lose some of the base. It they acquit then they lose independent voters and old guard solid citizen republicans. Either way they will face judgement time in 2022.
Trump is already blaming his lawyers being the creature of habit –that he is doing that, is hardly news. Old dog. No new tricks, Boring. By now his lawyers should know to get the payment up front. The vultures are forming a circle of a size not seen since Custer's last stand. Day two starts early tomorrow. Looks like a big plate full of twisted logic on toast for breakfast. Yum.
I have to give kudos to the Biden administration for ignoring the impeachment. They're going ahead with the distribution of the vaccine and the relief bill. Biden's approval is up in the mid-50's. Yes, there have been quarrels within the party about the bill and for the most part, they've been satisfied to my approval. If relief is 1400 per person plus a $3000 check per child, I like that better than $2000 per person, though the latter is more to my personal benefit. I'm convinced families are harder hit than individuals and they have more to lose.
The arguments this morning fascinated me. The incompetence of Trump's lawyers amazed me. The outcome is not in doubt unless they employ a secret ballot. I am not sure which method I prefer. Overall, if the House managers continue for the next 16 hours to present the facts, the damage to Trumpsters will be overwhelming. I'm not saying a significant number of the cultists will be persuaded but the attitude of independents will be concrete.
The 2022 strategy is solid, IMO. We have a two party system with three parties if you consider indepenents who are more numerous than Democrats or Republcans. Make the GOP go full-bore fascist with primary contenders trying to outdo each other in Q-ness. Trump's base will love it and they will sweep the primaries. Problem is the Dems can win any contestable race because Independents are reaching tho point tey've had enough. They may return to a real coservative party with values, but Trumpism will exist as a minority force.
Once I decided that politics is just showbiz, I stopped watching.
Am just reading about the world, and I thank you Maha for your help in my escape.
I did watch the video. It reminded me of the despair I felt upon being exposed to the worlds of "professional" wrestling and "reality" TV.
Music to my ears: ‘There’s nothing left’ – Why Thousands of Republicans are Leaving the Party
The Joker