‘What on Earth Are You Thinking?!’ Chris Hayes Dumbfounded by Moderate Senate Dems’ Demand to Shrink Covid Relief Eligibility

MSNBC host Chris Hayes unleashed a long rant at moderate Senate Democrats for committing the equivalent of a political own-goal, for demanding the Biden administration pare back who would be eligible to receive Covid relief.

During his Tuesday night show, the liberal host offered a lengthy reaction to the news that the White House had agreed to a compromise with Senators Joe Manchin (WV), Jeanne Shaheen (NH), and Kyrsten Sinema (AZ) that would lower the income cutoffs of those who could qualify for direct payments in the American Rescue Plan.

“Why on Earth would you take steps to make it less effective and less popular?!” a confounded Hayes began. “And yet today that is exactly what senate Democrats were insisting on.”

By lowering the annual income phase out level from $100,000 to $80,000 for individuals and from $200,000 down to $160,000 for couples, Hayes noted that 12 million fewer adults and five million fewer children would be eligible for payments under the Biden plan than the one that passed in January under Trump.

“Cut Joe Manchin a ton of slack, alright. The guy got re-elected in West Virginia, the Trumpiest state in the union,” Hayes conceded about the moderate Democrats precarious political position. “But explain this one to me? It’s not even like there’s some obvious, lobbyist reason, like the big donors don’t want this to happen. There’s not a political reason. This is not some fraught issue like abortion or guns. There’s no group out there that is single-mindedly focused on making sure that people who make $85,000 a year don’t get a check during the pandemic. Who cares?! Who’s opposing that?!”

Hayes then pointed out the inroads Democrats made during the last election among college-educated voters in suburbs, who might just fall outside the newly-lowered Covid relief cutoffs.

“A lot of those people are the people making the amount that are now going to get shut out of stimulus checks,” Hayes warned. “There is nothing more than a reflexive, almost neurotic, compulsive desire to signal moderation by making things worse both substantively. I have personally watched his neurosis in the Democratic Party for the 20 years I’ve covered politics. Much of it has been banished and wrung out, but what on Earth are you thinking?!”

Watch the video above, via MSNBC.