I know this is just a repeat of what he said last month, but it is worth pointing out again. It is also all the more gross to be doing this from the Oval Office instead of at a campaign event.
The personalism of it all is also quite striking: “I’m going to give…” as if he owns the government and controls the treasury. This is tin-pot dictator stuff.
I also get tired of the way he throws out numbers. Even if the $21 trillion in investments is a real number (and it almost certainly is not), it is not like this is $21 trillion that has been deposited in some account from which he can draw out the $1.2 trillion needed to dole out checks. It is like the way he talks about Venezuelan oil–it is all fantasies built out of potentiality and vapor.
It is truly remarkable to watch him run the country the way he ran his businesses: it is all bluster and managing to use other people’s money to enrich and empower himself without actually building or producing anything. Who could have predicted it?
Has anyone failed upward more successfully than Donald J. Trump?
The brazenness is certainly a key part of this, as it amounts to a naked promise of a political payoff. Theoretically, it could be done legally, so I don’t see the main problem as one of law, per se. This is not a defense, but simply capitulating to reality: if (a big “if”) Congress passed a law to “rebate” $5k to every adult citizen in the US, that is something they have the power to do. It would be unwise, if not downright stupid, to do so, but it is hard to argue that they lack the constitutional authority.
I also don’t get hung up on the legality issue, because I don’t think this is going to happen. Even if, by some miracle, the Republicans retain both chambers of Congress, such a rebate bill is not going to pass. Indeed, if the GOP had the votes to try to bribe America into loving them, now is the time, not later.
Indeed, one of the reasons that this kind of appeal is just so very stupid is that the Republicans currently control the House, the Senate, the White House, and, for all practical purposes, the Supreme Court. Sure, the filibuster still exists, but the Reps have the theoretical power to do away with it. So where are the checks? Why should we have to wait until after the election? If we are flush with that sweet, sweet tariff money, then bring on the bonuses!
If Republican governance brings us such amazing outcomes that Democrats will ruin, show us the money now!
Wait.
I am getting a note.
I am being informed that this is all a lie and a sham being offered to us by a con artist who can’t be trusted.
