Apart from this article, I have to say it was quite an experience having Christmas yesterday and all my family talked about was the $2,000 checks. Trump comes out of this looking like the good guy after more than one Dem has publicly talked about how bad this would be.
Austerity is the attempt to raise government funds. This is through reducing spending by cutting services, raising taxes, or both. It can be a combination but not necessarily. The EU playbook doesn't apply - instead look at how the American right have done austerity - spending cuts and tax cuts - because tax cuts are the ultimate neoliberal goal