Good morning everyone! We’re on the highway to hell, probably, so let’s try to have some fun ‘til we get there.
Biden pushes for new fundraising objectives for bundlers, seeking more than $2 million each: a pretty big jump from previous asks for up to $500,000 each. If he wants to go toe to toe with Trump, he’s going to need it.
Pramila Jayapal’s Paycheck Guarantee Act may be the best way to save the economy: and it would do so by preserving jobs and keeping employees on the payroll.
Trump claims he’s taking hydroxychloroquine to prevent COVID-19: is he just stupid, lying, or is he slowly poisoning himself? Hey, it could be all three.
This one’s gonna be a quick one so let’s get to it.
ELECTION 2020
Biden’s Campaign Pushes Big New Fundraising Goals
Joe Biden’s campaign is strapped on cash when compared to Trump’s war chest. It’s no wonder that they’re now asking their top fundraisers to start pulling in over $2 million for the general election—up from previous asks of $500,000.
Go, Bundlers, Go
Any of these donations would end up in Biden’s joint fundraising committee with the DNC, called the Biden victory fund.
This ask is a massive jump from previous objectives for Biden’s top donors, which were originally asked to raise up to $100,000 each at the start of his campaign. $500,000 was a recent goal.
As far as who is outraising who: Biden and the DNC have raised $60.5 million in April, while Trump and the RNC raised $61 million. Not much of a gulf, but it’s important to note the Republicans have $255 million on hand whereas the Dems only have $103 million.
Unprecedented Times
With both campaigns going entirely virtual, raising money and putting it in the right places has become more important than ever.
Biden also needs to target states that Trump won in 2016, but the RNC knows this and plans on upping their field staff in these states significantly.
Bottom line: we’re in uncharted territory here. Campaigning has never quite looked like this, so having enough cash on hand becomes increasingly important as the state of campaigns gets a bit more experimental.
CORONAVIRUS
The Strength of Pramila Jayapal’s Paycheck Protection Act
With all the talk of reopening, you’d think there would be some specific priorities in mind. One would be keeping folks employed, which has already been problematic considering nearly 37 million Americans are unemployed and it may get worse still. One potential solution: Pramila Jayapal’s Paycheck Protection Act.
Halting Economic Collapse
The goal of Jayapal’s legislation: preserve jobs and stop mass unemployment.
Ideas like this actually have bipartisan support in Congress and similar ideas have been proposed in the Senate already.
Instead of dumping money into unemployment programs or direct payments, the idea is to subsidize payroll funding grants which directly go to businesses, nonprofits, state and local governments, contractors, and gig workers.
There would be a $90,000 salary cap to try to help middle and low-wage Americans in particular.
Such programs have found success across Europe despite those nations shutting down comparable parts of their economies.
The price tag isn’t insignificant—it’d be around $100 billion per month. Remember, though, this keeps people on payrolls, paying taxes, health insurance intact, no unemployment insurance, and no reliance on other social safety nets like food stamps.
Unemployment is bad for other less apparent reasons, too. It makes it harder to open the economy up if businesses suddenly find themselves understaffed. Unemployment also takes a mental toll on people and could cause the psychological damages of coronavirus to be much worse.
Bottom line: direct payments are a good idea, don’t get us wrong—but keeping people employed is also a good idea.
TRUMPOCALYPSE
Trump is Claiming He Takes Hydroxychloroquine
Hydroxychloroquine. Not only is it a mouthful, but it’s also an antimalarial drug that, while unproven as a treatment for COVID-19, has been pushed by President Trump. Now, the President claims he himself is taking it, meaning he’s either lying to the American people for some reason, or his aides let him think he’s taking it but they’re swapping it out with a placebo, or he’s just legitimately poisoning himself.
“I’m Taking It”
Despite being an unproven treatment for COVID-19 that’s not recommended by most experts outside of hospital use (and is even potentially lethal if misused), Trump says he’s taking it right now after having consulted with the White House physician.
Trump’s doctor did release a memo saying he and Trump decided the benefits of the medication outweigh the possible risks. However, the memo doesn’t clearly state that Trump was prescribed the medication or make any mention of doses.
One White House official told NBC News that the president began taking it after being exposed to his coronavirus-positive valet. Only a small group of aides were privy to the knowledge that Trump is supposedly taking the medication.
Bottom line: if it weren’t for the fact that promoting this kind of thing is so incredibly dangerous, this might actually be pretty damn funny.
END OF THE LINE...
That’s it for today.
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The Bread Line
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