Biden did exactly what the Contrarian Left wanted, they attacked him anyway
(Updated with three new additions: Christo Aivalis, Mike Figueredo (Humanist Report), and David Sirota.)
On Thursday, President-elect Joseph R. Biden threw his support behind an ambitious $1.9 trillion economic rescue to steady the economy and fight off the coronavirus that has tragically taken 389,000 lives in the U.S..
As Biden keeps his word on the $2,000 checks by adding a $1400 check (after Republicans obstructed the last effort), a stupid talking point is spreading that Democrats supposedly failed to communicate their plan clearly.
Reality: Biden hasn’t jettisoned from his call for $2,000 direct payments. The Republican Congress obstructed it by instead passing $600 checks. With Biden’s hand forced, he’s trying to add $1400 checks to abide by his promise through two different bills. Yair Rosenberg elaborated on this on Twitter.
Rosenberg noted some are understandably confused, and “others know better but are being deliberately misleading in order to present Biden as going back on his word, when he didn’t, which in turn confuses more folks.”
Donald Trump has botched the vaccine deployment— The NY Times broke news that the Trump administration refused to purchase additional doses “in late summer.” Meanwhile, Biden‘s American Rescue Plan includes money to expedite the vaccine distribution.
Matthew Yglesias’ Substack piece details the nuts and bolts of the nearly “$400 billion investment in vaccinations, testing, and public health workers.”
The Trump administration failed to pre-order more doses, therefore it is too late now.
From The Times’ report: But despite repeated warnings from Pfizer officials that demand could vastly outstrip supply and amid urges to pre-order more doses, the Trump administration turned down the offer, according to several people familiar with the discussions.
Moreover, Trump’s missed opportunity in July to request an additional 100 million to 500 million doses has generated criticism that the poor and middle class will be hit the worst.
On Twitter, Democratic Rep. Adam B. Schiff laid out what’s inside Biden’s historic $1.9 trillion COVID relief package:
- Accelerated vaccine rollout.
- Eviction moratorium.
- Increased minimum wage to $15/hour.
- $2k relief checks.
Still, this hasn’t stopped anti-liberal pundits from spinning the $2,000 relief checks as a Democratic failure.
The Humanist Report called Biden a “bitch,” and demanded $2,000 dollars, even though Biden had put his support behind that amount, linking to pro-Trump disinformation hub “The Hill.”
David Sirota:
Democratic Socialist YouTuber Christo Aivalis tweeted “Joe Biden BREAKS $2000 Stimulus Check Promise, called out by AOC, Jamaal Bowman, and Cori Bush.”
“WATCH,” and linked to his video.
The Hill’s Krystal Ball:
The Insurgents’ podcast host Jordan Uhl:
‘Gato Fumador’ is mad that “people in the replies” are able to solve a simple equation: $1400+$600=$2000
The user also didn’t appreciate Democrats “trying to be cute about it,” warning that it was “a great way to annoy them into handing Congress to the GOP in 2022.”
Far-right terrorist sympathizer and morning talk show host Jack Allison wrote “are you fuckin kidding me?”
Daily Poster contributor Walker Bragman tweeted:
On December 21, Bragman falsely claimed (in a viral tweet still up) that a previous stimulus bill contains $500,000 for Israel, when in fact the federal budget contained the money for Israel.
Populist YouTuber Shoe0nhead reacted to Biden’s plan with skepticism, posting “sounds too good, what’s the catch?” But didn’t have the same skepticism for white supremacist Tucker Carlson, when she posted a meme that appeared to praise his economic populist sham.
“austerity is theft:”
The Intercept’s Ken Klippenstein:
Co-host of Patch Notes Nathan Bernhardt:
The Gravel Institute’s Twitter account complained that “it is time for the Democratic House, Senate, and Presidency to send every American their $2,000 checks. Not $600, not $1,400 — the $2,000 checks they promised.”