Trumponomics: Stimulus is in the balance

Rick Newman analyzes what President Trump is thinking in asking for more money from Congress to give to Americans in distress.

Video Transcript

JULIA LA ROCHE: And I want to bring in Yahoo Finance's Rick Newman for-- I think this might be our final Trumpometer for the year, Rick. Is that right?

RICK NEWMAN: Yeah, yeah. And it's quite an interesting time. I'll just jump right in, Julia, if you don't mind.

JULIA LA ROCHE: Go for it.

RICK NEWMAN: Trump is acting like a Democrat right now. And Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer in Congress, I think they are delighted that Trump has-- instead of signing this big stimulus bill, this aid bill, he has said, no, I'm not going to sign off, or I don't like that it's only got $600 in stimulus checks for people. I want $2,000.

So Democrats in the House and the Senate both said, hey, we're on board with that. We'd be happy to support $2,000 checks. So if this actually gets to the point of Congress having to have this unanimous consent vote on this measure, it is-- it's not going to pass. There will be objections, but those objections are going to come from Republicans.

So what Trump is doing here, ironically enough, is he's putting Republicans in the position of having to shoot down more stimulus aid for Americans in distress. And he's doing this while we still have those two Senate runoff elections in Georgia. So it's hard to see how this helps the Republican candidates in Georgia, and it is not hard to see how it hurts them. Trump just seems intent on making Republicans in Congress miserable in his last few weeks in office.

ADAM SHAPIRO: You started this, Rick, by saying he looks like a Democrat. Wasn't he a Democrat? He was a Democrat for years. So was Ivanka, the whole family, weren't they?

RICK NEWMAN: Yeah, back in the '90s, I think he self-identified as a Democrat. And he was a member of the party, and he donated to Democrats. He obviously found his niche as a populist conservative. That's what ends up working for him. But look what he's doing on the way out, Adam.

He's basically challenging, especially in the Senate, the Republican members there to demonstrate their loyalty to him, even after he lost the election, by backing up this effort to steal the election from Joe Biden. Trump has shown his hand here. We are going to see more of this in January, especially on that January 6-- at that event where they count the electoral votes in Congress.

And I guess I should get to my Trumpometer score for the week while-- before I run out of time and get [INAUDIBLE]. We're getting a mediocre on the Trumpometer this week. And mediocre is our third best reading, and that's pretty good. And the reason is we did finally get a stimulus bill. It only took eight months. The stimulus will help. We probably need more in 2021.

So if President Trump would just get out of the way or sign the thing and go on his holiday vacation, this thing would go into effect. I think it's about 3/4 likely that will be the ultimate outcome.

ADAM SHAPIRO: With just a little time, I would never [INAUDIBLE] you, but-- which means to interrupt. I have to ask you, Rick, and I'll let you pick, is there going to be a Bidometer or a Bidenmeter, or do you think that Trump might actually go full hog and blow up the stimulus relief bill?

RICK NEWMAN: If he does-- if Trump does blow up the stimulus bill, it will end up passing and being signed by Joe Biden. So we're going to get the same bill. It would just be-- what-- a month later or so. And as for the-- whether there will be a Bidenometer, I would invite viewers to let me know if there should be or not. I'm inclined against it-- and maybe roll out something different, simply because Biden is boring compared to Trump.

And I just don't think we're going to have enough to talk about on a weekly basis the way we have with Trump, because he has just been so bombastic, and he's given us something to talk about literally every week. There's always something. I'm just not sure that'll be the case with Biden. But look, if there's popular demand for a Bidenometer, let me know, and we'll make sure it happens.