Biden admits stimulus is more a New Deal. Plus: Mob tactics to nail Trump. Media destroys Cuomo

By Gary Abernathy

Biden admits ‘stimulus’ plan is more like FDR’s New Deal

Well, as we say here in southern Ohio, they done went and did it. The Senate over the weekend passed the $1.9 trillion “stimulus” bill. They made enough tweaks to let Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) come away saying he had some impact, but it was nothing really major. It’s still nearly $2 trillion. Trillion. Trillion. Trillion. Keep letting that sink in.

President Biden said the package has something for everyone, and with that price tag it certainly should. Biden said, “For over a year, the American people were told they were on their own.” Really? Seriously? President Trump and Congress already approved $4 trillion in covid relief. That’s leaving Americans on their own?

Biden said, “Over 85 percent of American households will get direct payments of $1,400 per person…That means the mortgage can get paid.  That means the child can stay in community college.  That means maintaining the health insurance you have.” For a lot of people I’ve talked to the last few days, it means buying that new TV or upgrading their smart phone. Millions of Americans who don’t really need it are getting checks. So what? It’s Monopoly money anyway.  

Biden went through a litany of programs the package will address which have nothing to do with covid. He added, “This plan is historic.  Taken altogether, this plan is going to make it possible to cut child poverty in half.  Let me say that again — it’s significant, historic: It will cut child poverty in half.”

Okay. Wow. That is big. So we’re admitting this is not a covid relief package as much as it’s another New Deal or Great Society package like those passed during the Franklin Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson presidencies? Good to finally admit as much.

Trump witnesses under pressure to flip, save themselves

The Washington Post recently published a story describing the tactics of the Manhattan district attorney who is investigating former President Trump’s financial affairs – basically describing how, as I read it, mob investigation tactics are being used to intimidate witnesses.

For example, the CFO* of a Trump company, Allen Weisselberg, is feeling the heat from the probe. “This questioning is now led by a former mob prosecutor, and one person familiar with the investigation said it is aimed at ‘flipping’ Weisselberg — attempting to turn one of Trump’s longest-serving andmost important aides into a witness against him.”

How do they do this? The investigation “has included questions related to two of (Weisselberg’s) adult children, a tactic that could be an effort to increase pressure on the elder Weisselberg. One of Weisselberg’s sons also works for the Trump Organization, where he manages the company’s Central Park ice rinks. Another Weisselberg son works for a company that has extended loans to the Trump Organization.”

In other words, put the squeeze on the kids, but promise to go easy if they all flip and provide – or invent – some juicy details on Trump. Such tactics lead witnesses to create things to save themselves. It’s a tactic designed to lead to a specific result rather than find the truth. It’s used to put a notch on a belt, nothing more.
(*An earlier version of this post incorrectly identified Weisselberg as CEO.)

Hey Gov. Cuomo, here’s what media destruction looks like

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo certainly knows what media adulation looks like. During most of last year, the media was in love with Cuomo, holding him up as the model of how to deal with covid. Cuomo was the good guy, President Trump was the bad guy, according to the narrative. Cuomo could do no wrong. Trump could do nothing right.

The media giveth, and the media taketh away. Cuomo, and the rest of us, are witnessing what it looks like when the media fawns over you one minute and decides to destroy you the next, like flipping a switch. It’s not pretty.

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