It sounds crazy.
The public might reward the House Republicans if they use the debt ceiling to crash our economy.
It is cynical. It is unpatriotic. It is smart game theory.
Democrats should not presume House Republicans are making an empty threat when they threaten to damage America's credit standing or trigger a recession. It would be the "burn it down" gambit, and the arsonist comes out the winner.
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| Silverback, mother, child |
It is grotesque, but it makes sense. There is no room for sentiment or prissy morality. Survival is on the line. If you can't beat him, join him.
It isn't just gorillas. In tough neighborhoods, where the police are weak and cannot protect citizens from violent actors, it is necessary for citizens to pay "protection money." "It would be a shame if a fire were to burn down this lovely store you have." The Mafia sometimes carries through with the threat. It makes a vivid physical message of police weakness and the credibility of future threats. The prudent person allies with the ones with the power. "Nice economy you have here. If we just had a GOP president like Trump, then this kind of mishap wouldn't happen."
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| Wall Street Journal |
But won't the persuadable middle of American general election voters punish Republicans, not Biden, if they see that Republicans provoked the damage? Probably not. Biden carries more risk of being blamed. Possibly a Bill Clinton or Barack Obama would have the oratorical skills to push blame back onto Republicans--and indeed that happened in prior debt crisis events. A Democratic president would need to explain the mess amid in-the-face reality of a damaged financial system, a recession, and unemployment. It is a hard task for any president. Biden is no Churchill. Moreover, the job of sending a persuasive message cannot be delegated. Delegation would confirm Biden's weakness, not the strength of his team. See! The weak president needs to be propped up.
The GOP can muddle the issue of fault. These issues are complicated and Republicans can argue they are protecting America from profligate Democrats. What would not be complicated is that the U.S. would be in distress. Misery speaks for itself. Biden would be left holding the bag. After all, he is the president. The worse the bag, the better for the GOP. The cynical move is for the GOP is to wreck the bag.
Will they? The Freedom Caucus is insisting on it, and doing so strengthens its hand inside the GOP, and the GOP's hand in the upcoming election.
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8 comments:
Were the Republican-led House to make the U.S. default on its debt for the first time in history, it would be a Pyrrhic victory comparable to Russia’s capture of Soledar, where nothing is left standing. As Zelensky described it, “This is what madness looks like.” That applies equally to Republicans willing to inflict economic chaos in retribution for Democrats foiling their coup attempt.
Would the Republican electorate reward them for it? These legislators wouldn’t be in a position to do it if those who elected them weren’t as crazy as they are. We're talking about people willing to believe that public schools are providing litter boxes in restrooms for students who identify as cats and that wokeness is the greatest threat facing America. It appears the GOP's antipathy toward critical thinking has had its desired effect.
"We had to destroy the village in order to save it", an Army information officer in Vietnam.
Yes, you are very likely right with this analysis. Republicans have permeated the airwaves with a steady drumbeat of misinformation, obfuscating their own mismanagement of the budget, distracting from their own corruption (2008, anyone?) with straw man culture wars, and have set themselves up as morally superior for any and all who will fall for it. And there are many who do, the corrosive effect is evident in everything from escalating hate crimes to daily mass murders.
The only option for Democrats is the "never negotiate with terrorists" strategy coupled with an equally vociferous campaign to communicate to the public that this will be a disaster that will make '08 look like a picnic. You say the issues are complicated, as if everyone is too dumb to understand them. I don't agree and I hope Democrats don't blink, though it's looking like they might. Either way the blame game will continue until those "Good Republicans" you seem to think are out there take back their party.
Who, exactly?
Critical thinking? We don’t need no fucking thinking! Here’s a plank in the 2012 Texas Republican Party Platform:
We oppose the teaching of Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) (values clarification), critical thinking skills and similar programs that are simply a relabeling of Outcome-Based Education (OBE) (mastery learning) which focus on behavior modification and have the purpose of challenging the student's fixed beliefs and undermining parental authority.
Yeah don’t wanna threaten FIXED beliefs!
“…Destroy the village in order to save it?” Get this. The YSFS Galice District Ranger decided he'd burn down the historic “Taylor Creek Cabin, a hand hewed beauty, because “the hippies were going to trash it, by living in it. Result? After a bunch of us pointed out how odd the Ranger's logic was, a bunch of Navy CB's rescued it, by dismantling it, labeling every piece, and reconstructing it at the Kerby Museum out in Selma.
Next time you drive through the Illinois Valley, you can stop and see it in its (NOT) natural habitat, now a parking lot.
I don't think it will happen. All those billionaire GOP donors don't want to watch their stock portfolios crater. The GOP would never get another cent from them.
Remember, the debt is money already spent. Try that with your VISA account. All this is just grandstanding. Look how fiscally conservative we are. The Democrats got us into it.
The Debt Ceiling will be raised and we won't hear much about it later.
If you go with the idea that Presidential wins are heavily tied to the state of the economy, then doesn’t it seem that one way to ensure a GOP presidential win in 2024 is sabotage the economy and claim it was Biden’s fault?
Peter C may be right, but I wonder with the extreme right in charge, whether those big money donors have any real leverage.
"The Democrats got us into it"? Were you alive during the maladministration of St. Ronald of the Rayguns ? When, in order to cover the massive deficits cause by St. Ronnie and his "trickledown" policies resulted in the first ever raids on the Social Security Trust Funds or at the same time caused Social Security Benefits to he subject to taxation ?
In politics, money is life.
Donors don't want to see their portfolios tank.
Our government is owned by corporations. They wouldn't dare risk their investment.
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