With jobless aid expired, Trump sidelines himself in stimulus talks

On the first day of the first full week when tens of millions of Americans went without the federal jobless aid that has cushioned them during the pandemic, President Donald Trump was not cajoling undecided lawmakers to embrace a critical stimulus bill to stabilize the foundering economy.

He was at the White House, hurling insults at the Democratic leaders whose support he needs to strike a deal.

Trump called House Speaker Nancy Pelosi “Crazy Nancy,” charging that she had no interest in helping the unemployed. He said Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader, only wanted to help “radical left” governors in states run by Democrats. And he threatened to short-circuit a delicate series of negotiations to produce a compromise and instead unilaterally impose a federal moratorium on tenant evictions.

The comments came just as Trump’s own advisers were on Capitol Hill meeting with Pelosi and Schumer in search of an elusive deal, and they underscored just how absent the president had been from the negotiations. They also highlighted how, three months before he is to face voters, the main role that Trump appears to have embraced in assembling an economic recovery package is that of sniping from the sidelines in ways that undercut a potential compromise.

In the stimulus talks, Trump’s ideas have often been out of sync with members of his own party. On Monday, he said he was considering acting on his own to eliminate payroll taxes, something a president does not have the power to do himself. The eviction moratorium he has championed was not a part of the Republican plan.

“I’ll do it myself if I have to,” Trump said Monday.

While that might be possible, virtually every other measure under discussion to stimulate the economy would require congressional approval.

The stakes of the negotiations could not be higher. Business leaders on Monday pleaded with lawmakers to draft a sweeping recovery package to help the hardest-hit industries survive the crisis. And economists warned that the expiration of the $600-perweek enhanced unemployment payments could already be dragging down consumer spending.