Great insight, Dan! There is no bottom to Mitch McConnell's cynicism – he's only "effective" because Democrats aren't interested in playing his craven, destructive games. If they were, they'd be Republicans. But Dems are burdened by, you know, governing and taking their job as public servants seriously, which puts them at a disadvantage on the partisan hackery front.
And I wish frustrated Dems understood that it only FEELS like McConnell always wins because his losses include improvements that are taken for granted – ACA, Recovery Act, Obama's re-election and ability to circumvent legislation on certain issues – while his "wins" are objectively terrible for citizens and are therefore imprinted in our minds. It's sort of like how we only blame refs for missing big calls but never credit them when the game goes smoothly – we expect that.
Quick question: If Warnock and Ossoff both win 🙏 can we trust that Manchin will remain a Democrat? I don't know much about him – except that he picks his progressive spots more cautiously as a Dem from WV, which is understandable – but I read some takes on Twitter suggesting McConnell would recruit him hard if the senate wound up 50-50. I hope this is a ridiculous idea – and a dumb question – but I'm just looking for reassurance.
Yes! Economic populism!!! It transcends all demographics. We as democrats abandoned this message over 30 years ago and largely acquiesced to conservative protections of the rich and corporations. Time to bring back the populism putting workers, the middle and lower class against corporate overlords and corruption. Also, messaging this as profoundly American and patriotic would help as well. This messaging is not only righteous, but it may be the only message strong enough to go up effectively against the racist and xenophobic populism that Trumpism represents. Force people to choose between their economic interests or divisive "cultural" issues. This could be a major pathway to prevent our authoritarian slide. If republicans figure out that they can pair this with their culture war it could be disastrous for our republic.
I keep going back to the idea that Trump was functionally a third party candidate who has walked away with the Republican party because their actual platform is so wildly unpopular. I wonder where things would be if they'd actually repealed AHA and millions of Americans had to go fuck themselves. And then came the pandemic. How do you message that very real possibility? Maybe someone could write it as a tv pilot...
It's going to cost a lot to administratively send $600 to everyone so dribbling that amount out ONCE instead of a recurring pattern based on other automatic factors is kicking the can down the road. Similar to the never-ending budget "continuing resolutions" which Congress automatically resorts to.
The IRS is overworked underpaid, under-staffed and 4-6 months behind on old correspondence as we speak. Giving them another program to administer to EVERY taxpayer is quite frankly crazy at the end of the year right before another tax season.
Do people realize that the current $1200 (or different amount) even while not taxable needs to be reported correctly on the return? How many people are going to remember this amount exactly? The only government document that's going to report this, (I've been told in tax update schools) is that letter that Donald Trump signed back when they came out. How many taxpayers in their right mind didn't automatically pitch such a piece of propaganda immediately in the trash? I'm sorry I'm on a rant here.....
The corporate liability shield Republicans wanted is obviously awful. But would Democrats have been better off in the near and medium-term for trading the shield for bigger cash benefits and UI? I'm concerned that what people will get is so small compared to their needs that this inadequacy could -- given the timing -- get blamed on Biden and the Dems.
Or would McConnell have moved the goalposts anyway, even if Dems acquiesced?
Great insights, Dan. But once the Senate make-up is confirmed, doesn't McConnell's motivation go away for at least a year, perhaps the most important year of the Biden-Harris Administration when it comes to helping the American people and the economy recover?
Is it possible that McConnell is baiting us with this story? Maybe he just realized that direct payments are more popular than state aid but as long the price tag overall doesn't change much, he still hamstrings the Biden admin while saying he passed help... And now we are focused on an issue that Republicans can more easily defend while issues like weed, wages, criminal justice, voting rights, or health care are still key issues with bigger contrasts
Great insight, Dan! There is no bottom to Mitch McConnell's cynicism – he's only "effective" because Democrats aren't interested in playing his craven, destructive games. If they were, they'd be Republicans. But Dems are burdened by, you know, governing and taking their job as public servants seriously, which puts them at a disadvantage on the partisan hackery front.
And I wish frustrated Dems understood that it only FEELS like McConnell always wins because his losses include improvements that are taken for granted – ACA, Recovery Act, Obama's re-election and ability to circumvent legislation on certain issues – while his "wins" are objectively terrible for citizens and are therefore imprinted in our minds. It's sort of like how we only blame refs for missing big calls but never credit them when the game goes smoothly – we expect that.
Quick question: If Warnock and Ossoff both win 🙏 can we trust that Manchin will remain a Democrat? I don't know much about him – except that he picks his progressive spots more cautiously as a Dem from WV, which is understandable – but I read some takes on Twitter suggesting McConnell would recruit him hard if the senate wound up 50-50. I hope this is a ridiculous idea – and a dumb question – but I'm just looking for reassurance.
Yes! Economic populism!!! It transcends all demographics. We as democrats abandoned this message over 30 years ago and largely acquiesced to conservative protections of the rich and corporations. Time to bring back the populism putting workers, the middle and lower class against corporate overlords and corruption. Also, messaging this as profoundly American and patriotic would help as well. This messaging is not only righteous, but it may be the only message strong enough to go up effectively against the racist and xenophobic populism that Trumpism represents. Force people to choose between their economic interests or divisive "cultural" issues. This could be a major pathway to prevent our authoritarian slide. If republicans figure out that they can pair this with their culture war it could be disastrous for our republic.
I keep going back to the idea that Trump was functionally a third party candidate who has walked away with the Republican party because their actual platform is so wildly unpopular. I wonder where things would be if they'd actually repealed AHA and millions of Americans had to go fuck themselves. And then came the pandemic. How do you message that very real possibility? Maybe someone could write it as a tv pilot...
It's going to cost a lot to administratively send $600 to everyone so dribbling that amount out ONCE instead of a recurring pattern based on other automatic factors is kicking the can down the road. Similar to the never-ending budget "continuing resolutions" which Congress automatically resorts to.
The IRS is overworked underpaid, under-staffed and 4-6 months behind on old correspondence as we speak. Giving them another program to administer to EVERY taxpayer is quite frankly crazy at the end of the year right before another tax season.
Do people realize that the current $1200 (or different amount) even while not taxable needs to be reported correctly on the return? How many people are going to remember this amount exactly? The only government document that's going to report this, (I've been told in tax update schools) is that letter that Donald Trump signed back when they came out. How many taxpayers in their right mind didn't automatically pitch such a piece of propaganda immediately in the trash? I'm sorry I'm on a rant here.....
The corporate liability shield Republicans wanted is obviously awful. But would Democrats have been better off in the near and medium-term for trading the shield for bigger cash benefits and UI? I'm concerned that what people will get is so small compared to their needs that this inadequacy could -- given the timing -- get blamed on Biden and the Dems.
Or would McConnell have moved the goalposts anyway, even if Dems acquiesced?
Great insights, Dan. But once the Senate make-up is confirmed, doesn't McConnell's motivation go away for at least a year, perhaps the most important year of the Biden-Harris Administration when it comes to helping the American people and the economy recover?
Is it possible that McConnell is baiting us with this story? Maybe he just realized that direct payments are more popular than state aid but as long the price tag overall doesn't change much, he still hamstrings the Biden admin while saying he passed help... And now we are focused on an issue that Republicans can more easily defend while issues like weed, wages, criminal justice, voting rights, or health care are still key issues with bigger contrasts