Trump Says Deal “Not Going to Happen” (ELECTION?)

Trump Says Deal “Not Going to Happen” (ELECTION?)

This is my stimulus update for Thursday, August 13.

Don’t want to read? Watch the video below!

What Trump Said Yesterday About Stimulus

Yesterday the president said that a stimulus deal is not going to happen on account of the Democrats.  He said, “The bill’s not going to happen because [Democrats] don’t even want to talk about it, because we can’t give them the kind of ridiculous things that they want that have nothing to do with the China virus.”

Now, does this mean all stimulus hopes are dashed?  No, because remember the President said, repeatedly, throughout July, “It’s gonna happen, stimulus checks, we’re gonna get it done, stimulus is gonna be huge.”

And now he’s saying, “Nope, not gonna get done.”

But there could very well be a political motivation for Trump’s comments here because he’s incredibly frightened about the November election, now some might say, well Trump needs a deal to be re-elected, but maybe not in Trump’s mind.

Mnuchin’s and Pelosi’s Stimulus Call Yesterday

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi had a phone call yesterday, the first time they’ve spoken since Friday.

Reportedly Mnuchin initiated the call.

So that’s good news, it shows that they’re both open to speaking, little bit of good news.

Bad news: The call didn’t go anywhere.

Nancy Pelosi said regarding the call, “An overture was made by Steven Mnuchin to meet and he made clear that his televised comments from earlier today still stand: The White House is not budging from their position concerning the size and scope of a legislative package.”

Steven Mnuchin said, “Earlier today, Speaker Pelosi and I spoke by phone.  Her statement is not an accurate reflection of our conversation. She made clear that she was unwilling to meet to continue negotiations unless we agreed in advance to her proposal, costing at least $2 trillion…The Democrats have no interest in negotiating.”

So basically, more of the same.  Yes, they spoke, but neither the Republicans’ nor the Democrats’ stance has changed.

Both view the other side completely wrong here and needing to say I’m sorry, you’re right, and see it their way.

So that’s the Mnuchin/Pelosi call yesterday.

And frankly, a second stimulus check in August is not very likely.  The vast majority of members of Congress are home right now, Mark Meadows is out of town, next week we have the Democratic convention, the following week the GOP convention.

I just don’t see this happening in August, hopefully when Congress comes back after Labor Day and they start talking about the appropriations bills that I’ve told you about, we will see some more serious action with respect to stimulus.

Is Trump Stifling Stimulus For the Sake of His Reelection?

This is speculation, but based on comments that the president made yesterday, I’m a little bit concerned about where his intentions are right now with another stimulus bill based on the fact that Democrats wanted $25 billion for the Post Office in their HEROES Act.

Remember I told you that the Postmaster General Louis DeJoy was involved in one of the stimulus talks and how I was a little confused by that.  Because we’re talking about at least $1 trillion piece of legislation, but then you bring the Postmaster General in when the line item for post office funding is at most $25 billion, that’s a very small piece of the pie compared to at least $1 trillion that they were talking about stimulus negotiation.

Well, we might have some insights into that at this point, listen to this segment of Trump’s press conference yesterday.

Donald Trump: They turned out this bill because they want radical left agenda items that nobody in their right mind would approve, so they want $25 billion for the Post Office, they want $3.5 billion for universal mailing, and the bill’s not gonna happen because they don’t even want to talk about it because we can’t give them the ridiculous thing that they want that have nothing to do with the China virus, much of what they’re asking for.  So therefore they don’t have the money to do the universal mail-in voting so therefore they can’t do it, I guess, right?  Are they gonna do it even though they don’t have the money?  They’re asking for the $3.5 billion, they’re asking for $25 billion for the post office, so they can.. do this I guess and other things, that $25 I hope there would be a lot of other things too, but therefore they don’t have it, they don’t have the money to do the universal mail-in votes, it’ll be the greatest rigged election in history, the greatest fraud ever perpetrated except perhaps what they did to my campaign when they spied on my campaign.

So President Trump said there that a bill’s not going to happen because Democrats have so much garbage in it related to COVID-19, and what does he focus on?  The $25 billion Post Office line item in the HEROES Act because he thinks that giving more money to the Post Office will make it more possible for people to do mail-in voting in the November election, which he believes will hurt his chances of being reelected. Right from his mouth.

He sees himself as a savior here, effecting various stimulus-related measures with his executive actions, and is perhaps hesitant to strike a deal with Democrats knowing that they will likely insist on Post Office funding, which he’s obviously scared to death up. though I will point out that reports were that Democrats did get negotiated down to $10 billion from $25 billion for that Post Office funding but looks like Trump doesn’t want to get any more money to the Post Office because he’s scared of mail-in voting.

Larry Kudlow and “Voting Rights”

Listen to this just this morning:

Larry Kudlow: Trump has acted forcefully because we couldn’t reach a deal with the Democrats. They’re asking too much money three and a half trillion dollars. We’ve already spent over $3 trillion, so much of the Democratic asks are really liberal left wishlist is we don’t want to vote, you know, voting rights, and aid to aliens and so forth. That’s not our game.

Yes, according to White House Economic Advisor Larry Kudlow “voting rights” belong on a “liberal left wishlist.”  He didn’t say “vote by mail,” he said “voting rights.”

So is stimulus dead?  I’m not gonna stay that.  But I think all signs point to what I said yesterday, that I think it’s very clear that a second stimulus check will not be legislated, much less distributed, this month.