Republicans Are Insane to Pick a Debt Limit Fight

With America's - and possibly the world's - economy on the line, extremist factions within the House Republicans continue to want to refuse to increase the debt limit as they seek to force unspecified federal  spending cuts.  The statements of some reveal that they want to attack Social Security and Medicare, a sure way to alienate older voters on which the GOP relies, while others appear to simply want chaos.  A column in the Washington Post by a "conservative" and long time GOP apologist whom I almost never agree with (I totally disagree with his attacks on Democrat economic policy) lays out why such a debt ceiling fight is insane and will likely leave the Republicans damagaed based on what has happened in the past while giving Democrats a crudgle to use against the Republican brand in general.  Combined with the fascism being pushed by Ron DeSantis, the effect for the GOP could be devastating.  Of course, the insane elements of the GOP that living in their own alternate reality and the Fox News bubble seem unable to grasp the self-destructiveness of their own game.  Here are column excepts:

Most Americans think the economy is in bad shape, and 6 in 10 blame President Biden. Things could soon get worse: Economists believe there is a 70 percent likelihood of a recession this year — more than double the share from six months earlier, a Bloomberg survey in December found.

Given all this, House Republicans should ask themselves: Why on earth would they do anything that could hurt the economy — and give Biden the pretext to shift blame for his economic fiascoes to them?

That’s exactly what will happen if Republicans force a debt limit fight with the president. If the United States reaches the brink of insolvency, myriad problems could follow: The stock market could plummet, interest rates could skyrocket, our national credit rating could be downgraded, millions of jobs could be lost and inflation could climb even further. And Republicans would assume ownership of the economic debacle.

Instead of the “Putin Price Hike,” as Biden has tried to explain gasoline increases, Biden will begin touting the “MAGA Price Hike” — wrapping the poor economy around House Republicans’ necks. Why would the GOP hand Biden that kind of opening?

Note also that the history of presidential elections after debt ceiling fights has not been good for Republicans.

In 1995, after Republicans took control of the House with a much larger majority than they have today, Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) threatened not to raise the debt limit unless President Bill Clinton agreed to $245 billion in tax cuts, restraints on new Medicare and Medicaid spending, and a balanced budget within seven years. Republicans didn’t get most of their demands, and they paid for their brinkmanship the following year, when Clinton won reelection in a 379-159 electoral college landslide.

In 2011, Republicans again picked a fight over the debt ceiling. This time, it was the Democrats who flinched. . . . Obama’s discretionary spending was restrained — but at the cost of massive defense cuts that have hurt our ability to compete with and deter a rising Communist China. In the end, Obama had the last laugh. He won reelection the next year in another electoral college landslide, 332-206.

See a pattern? If Republicans want to all but guarantee a second Biden term, picking a debt ceiling fight is a great way to do it.

Such a fight does not make sense politically in other ways. It would unite Democrats while dividing Republicans, pitting the austerity wing of the GOP caucus against the defense hawks who oppose any efforts to cut military budgets at a time when China and Russia have locked arms to wage a new Cold War against the West.

Moreover, there is no constituency for austerity in today’s GOP. This is no longer the party of Paul Ryan. In 2016, Donald Trump brought in new working-class voters who like their entitlements and federal largesse. He campaigned by attacking Republicans for wanting to cut Social Security or Medicare.

If Republicans want to roll back Biden’s spending spree, throwing the country into a debt crisis is not the way to do it. Instead, they should do what Democrats did to get the spending passed in the first place: Win. Go out and convince voters to give the GOP control of the Senate, the White House and a bigger House majority. . . . . Putting the country on the brink of insolvency would have the opposite effect at the polls — making those GOP electoral victories less likely.

I used to believe in using the debt ceiling as leverage, but history is clear: Voters punish the party that plays chicken with the economy. . . . they alienated swing voters, who gave Democrats control of the Senate and Republicans an unexpectedly small House majority.

Now, instead of learning their lesson, Republicans are picking a debt limit fight — one that is poised to let Biden shift responsibility for his disastrous economic policies onto the GOP. That could cost them their narrow House majority — and, if history is any guide, the presidency.