All of his word choice when it came to his finances was interesting today. He keeps stressing that things are almost 'back to normal', he just needs to make this big payment...
Things were never not financially 'normal'. The only thing that changed was that he lost his monthly revenue sources, but he changed the tips goal to $200 to adapt to that. 'Going back to normal' means the tips dropping back down to $100. And he's right, once he does that, it will likely yield less income than he had on Twitch.
But that would be the first time that his income was lower than before losing his partnership. The $200 tips goal completely compensated for the lost money, and he netted extra as a result of Patreon, his Twich payment still coming, and the fact that the $200 persisted during the period that this YT paycheck will cover. He's using the phrase 'back to normal' to imply his earnings were down which is why he needs help. But they aren't down. They've been up. The $200/stream goal was to make up for his lost Twitch income and it did, so why is there a financial issue now, unless there was always a financial issue?
This is some extremely sleazy verbal sleight of hand, and he's talking a big game to sell it, but I think he is really underestimating the panic he is going to experience if he drops that tips goal back to $100. I'm waiting to hear 'Sadly, the YT paycheck was way less than I was anticipating. It was the first one with the memberships so I wasn't sure what to expect... the tips goal will need to stay at $200 until next month to make up for it.'
There was also a great moment on the stream a few minutes ago as Phil chainsawed his way through a vault. He said "By the way, this is very entertaining."
It reminded me of that line, "Any man who must say 'I am the king' is no true king." If you need to tell the audience they're entertained... they're probably not.