Remember White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows when he was in the House Freedom Caucus and trying to oust then-House Speaker John Boehner? That led to Boehner's assessments of the Freedom Caucus: “They can’t tell you what they’re for. They can tell you everything they’re against. They’re anarchists. They want total chaos. Tear it all down and start over. That’s where their mindset is.” And on Meadows: “He’s an idiot. I can’t tell you what makes him tick.” Now that Meadows is in the White House and has apparently taken over coronavirus policy, he's an absolute danger to, well, everything.
It was Meadows who blew up negotiations with House Democrats for the next coronavirus relief package, having taken the reins from Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who had been willing to work with Democrats to save the economy. The effort then was apparently to allow Trump to come up with his "executive orders" to make it look like he was sweeping in to save the day, though none of what are actually just memorandums are really doing much of anything. That doesn't matter to Trump or to Meadows, who is now blaming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for refusing to go along with his efforts to blow everything up.
Pelosi has already compromised more than necessary, coming down to $2 trillion from the $3 trillion the House had passed back in May for a relief package. The ensuing three and a half months of rampaging coronavirus and economic fallout argues for at least double that original amount, but the severity of the cliff millions of Americans were falling off with slashed unemployment insurance and an end to the eviction moratorium drove her to compromise. Meadows, however, is not someone who will compromise and who is an actual, malevolent force for doing absolutely nothing. Because if the government doesn't step in to help people, they'll have no choice but to either go back out in to the workforce (if they can find jobs) or starve. That's not an exaggeration. The administration is slapping restrictions on food aid, making states return to "normal" in providing SNAP benefits.
He's doing what Trump wants on economic policy, and he's got an ally in the new quack in the White House, Scott Atlas. The Washington Post reports that "Atlas meets with Trump almost every day, far more than any other health official, and inside the White House is viewed as aligned with the president and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows on how to handle the outbreak, according to three senior administration officials." We already know that what Atlas wants, and Trump along with him, is a "herd immunity" policy, throwing the entire nation to the wolves.
Not providing expanded universal income, not providing aid to state and local government, cutting down on food, allowing people to be evicted, forcing schools to reopen, all of that is part and parcel of Trump's reelection campaign. He's bored with coronavirus. He wants to declare victory and move on. However many people die.
from Daily Kos https://ift.tt/3lvkUWR
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