Meghan McCain, 35, made it clear she can’t believe President Donald Trump, 74, decided to call off coronavirus stimulus negotiations with Democrats until after the Nov. 3 presidential election on Oct. 6, when she tweeted about the move and called it a “kamikaze mission”. The daughter of the late Senator John McCain was responding to a tweet that mentioned the decision from statistician Nate Silver, 42, when she shared her opinion. “He’s officially going full tilt/kamikaze mission towards Election Day… I’ve never seen anything like it in modern politics,” she wrote.
Meghan’s tweet of disbelief comes on the same day Trump’s decision made headlines. The halt stops an ongoing push to send trillions of dollars more in relief to Americans in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic and the struggles it’s caused, including the shutdowns of many businesses. “I have instructed my representatives to stop negotiating until after the election when, immediately after I win, we will pass a major Stimulus Bill that focuses on hardworking Americans and Small Business,” Trump wrote in one of several tweets on Tuesday.
A first round of stimulus checks went out to qualified Americans earlier this year and there’s been talk that another round would go out as soon as an agreement was reached in Congress. Trump, however, mentioned House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in his latest tweet about halting the negotiations and accused her of requesting financial aid for situations not relating to the coronavirus.
“Nancy Pelosi is asking for $2.4 Trillion Dollars to bailout poorly run, high crime, Democrat States, money that is in no way related to COVID-19. We made a very generous offer of $1.6 Trillion Dollars and, as usual, she is not negotiating in good faith,” he wrote. “I am rejecting their request, and looking to the future of out country.”
Trump’s decision comes just one day after he returned to the White House from Walter Reed Medical Center, where he was staying over the weekend after he tested positive for COVID-19. He announced the diagnoses on Oct. 1 and checked into the hospital the next day after having “mild symptoms.” Upon his release, he said he was “feeling great” in a tweet and advised others to “not be afraid” of the virus.