Leverage.
This is obviously good policy and good politics but that was also true in June, when this deal could have and should have been done. And it was certainly true three days ago when Trump announced that he was done negotiating until after the election, to the mystification of everyone. Someone appears to have finally convinced him over the past 72 hours, very belatedly, that a deal would be the best thing he can do for struggling Americans and therefore the best thing he can do to boost his reelection chances. His decision on Tuesday to leave the bargaining table will inevitably be spun today as a genius leverage move — except that he doesn’t have leverage. For electoral reasons, Pelosi would doubtless love to have no deal by Election Day; and because Senate Republicans are (bizarrely) reluctant to approve a big package before November 3, Trump may still have no choice but to try to negotiate her downward. That means Dems can continue to reject every White House offer on grounds that it’s not “generous” enough to the American people. As such, pushing publicly for a big deal is probably the best PR move Trump can make at this point. If he can convince voters that he wants to be as “generous” as Pelosi does, that’ll complicate the blame equation between them if there’s no agreement. ????NEW… WHITE HOUSE is now completely set on striking a Covid stimulus deal with @SpeakerPelosi. They expect working all wk next week on getting a deal No guarantees it goes anywhere in senate. Trump wants. Badly. More in playbook pm. We’ll have everything you need to know. Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) October 9,2020 More from Axios: Within a day of tweeting that he was calling off bipartisan talks for a coronavirus stimulus deal, President Trump phoned House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and indicated he was worried by the stock market reaction and wanted a “big deal” with Speaker Nancy Pelosi, per two sources familiar with the call. What we’re hearing: Trump was spooked after seeing the instant drop in the stock market and intense backlash to his tweet, and he has since directed Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to push for a more comprehensive relief bill before the election… Few people on Capitol Hill thought a large-scale stimulus deal would be reached before Election Day, and it’s still very unlikely both sides can compromise by then.
