one thing that's just absolutely batshit, bananas, bonkers insane is that trump has never met a single debt in his entire miserable life that he wasn't ready to write off, not pay, default on or otherwise ignore. he quite famously loves debt, because he never intends to pay it.

but now, when taking on massive debt for stimulus or unemployment might be the single, solitary thing that could pull his fat ass out of the fire, he decides to listen to the dumbest of all bipartisan coalitions: debt scolds.

coming out tomorrow in favor of, like, bumping covid unemployment up to $800/mo for the duration and sending everyone a $2K/mo stimulus check would quite genuinely be the kind of strategic marketing genius that he's often alleged to possess.

i would honestly be significantly more worried about biden's chances if trump did something like this, and while some congressional republicans might bitch and complain, i bet he could get at least 70 votes in the senate and nearly all of them in the house.

instead, he's got his own people crowing about getting covid unemployment down to a miserly $200/mo is going to be a huge win, when in reality, i bet it's going to make people even more furious than just canceling it entirely would.

sure, ted cruz or rand paul might complain, but you can’t tell me trump wouldn’t relish the idea of gleefully mocking both of them for an entire news cycle.

it’s just another way in which the alleged marketing brilliance of donald trump exists only in the minds of the MAGA right and the twitter left

this is the only time trump’s completely irresponsible, profligate spending - a defining element of his whole personality - could actually benefit him, and this is the moment he gets religion on it. genuine, authentic stupidity is the only explanation i can find.

like, the only alternate explanations to colossal stupidity are:

1. he listens to the worst economic advisors since the hoover admin
2. he hates democrats more than he wants to win in the fall

i'm sure i don't need to tell you this, but this is not peak marketing perfection.

hell, i absolutely despise donald trump, and even i'd like to see him pass significantly better unemployment support and viciously belittle ted cruz and rand paul for a couple of weeks. i still wouldn't vote for him, but i know a troubling number of people who might.