At first glance, the GOP Senate stimulus package seems politically and economically foolish; if you’re unkind, you could even call it insane. It isn’t nearly sufficient to get the economy roaring back to life and improve Trump’s chances of re-election, but it is way too large for Republicans who at least like to pretend that they care about the deficit. So what’s the point?
McConnell is a PBP, so his greatest interest is in protecting the donor class. The package may be politically obtuse, but it undeniably addresses some of the biggest concerns of small businesses; it extends financial support for business, effectively cuts the minimum wage by reducing UI payments, and creates new safe havens for premises liability relating to the virus. Who could ask for more?
The rumbling about the package on the right tells you that the CLs and the Reactionaries have realized that Trump will probably lose, and that they want to start positioning themselves as critics of large deficits for the Biden administration. In other words, the Tea Party is back, baby! Expect to see a lot more absurdly hypocritical screaming from these Trump enablers about spending in the near future.