304 Comments
founding

We "won" because we escaped by the skin of our teeth, and because this is a real blow to Donald Trump, for whom a default and the consequent fallout would very likely have ensured his return to office --- and I don't know which is worse, the catastrophic economic collapse of the nation and the world, or DJT returning to office, forever. Of course with default you get both. We still very likely will get the latter, but at least not both -- not until later.

But we haven't "won" in the sense we accomplished anything. Even though the Republicans are basically cynically prevaricating when they purport to give a damn about fiscal responsibility, the statement of alarm is fully justified even though it is wholly insincere.

Expand full comment

As for the "graduates" who protested Cheney : it was rude and hardly demonstrative of having achieved a college education .

Expand full comment

Three day weekends are difficult for those of us with a serious Morning Shots addiction.

Expand full comment
founding

A very special interview with Luke Russert. Thanks Charlie for inviting a wise beyond his years young man (I’m 69 so cut me some slack) who has made so much progress in understanding his fathers influence on his life and his nation. I will share the interview with my only son who perhaps will share it some day with his only son.

Thanks Charlie -

Oh, and the students turning their backs on Liz. Well I was a stupid ignorant 22 year old once also. This too shall pass

Expand full comment

Your interview with Luke Russert was great. Really enjoyed it.

Expand full comment

I think Biden won this. This was always going to be the result so the ones who worked the hardest to get here, the Republicans, come out the losers. But I agree there really aren't winners and losers, unless there are obstructionists.

Expand full comment

Ok I got it. Thanks

Expand full comment

Republicans won. Why? Because Democrats shat the bed by having to negotiate with them in the first place.

Remember when this came up in the Obama Administration? Obama STARTED the negotiations by telling Republicans that any talk of using the 14th amendment was off-the-table. Only a political moron would begin negotiations by throwing away a solid bargaining chip in an argument against a party with no principles beyond obstructionism.

Then comes Biden President. It should have come as no surprise that the Administration would hit the debt ceiling (I mean it's basic math), and should have IMMEDIATELY challenged the debt ceiling law as contravening the 14th amendment.

What does Biden do instead? Literally nothing until the debt ceiling was a few months away.

So about a week ago, Biden said that he was not in a position to use the 14th amendment because ... it was too late then. The legal uncertainties surrounding the litigation would make its use impractical, as the U.S. would likely pay through the nose in interest to compensate investors for the risky bet.

Had Biden started the litigation two years ago, the legal issue would have had plenty of time to work its way through the courts.

To quote Will McAvoy in Newsroom, "If liberals are so fuckin' smart, how come they lose so GODDAM ALWAYS?!"

Expand full comment

No one won the debt fight but the uber rich, as usual. I am disappointed at Biden for not using the loophole strategy (14). maybe we (thats you charlie and perhaps ben wittes) can talk about why that was option was proposed and knocked down and why. I need to understand because everything lately is insane and all over the place.

And, on a side note... what happened in Russia today that twitter is on fire about but no one is detailing? all i got were retweets with no source info 🤩 Thank you!!

Expand full comment

Well maybe now, if Congress votes in the deal, my IRA will stop tanking. I've watched for a week as it has sunk like a stone over this, all the while knowing it was political theater for McCarthy, et all. Who the hell are they working for? It sure isn't middle-class me.

Expand full comment

"[The House New GOP] plan threatened spending on young & low-income but by excluding revenue & entitlements had small impact on overall deficits. Means wildly excessive for ends."

-----

President Biden appears to have handled the negotiations with aplomb, but there should have been no discussions in the first place; The Psychiatric Facility Escapee Caucus had no qualms about holding the financial standing of the US, and the economies of most of the rest of the world, hostage to engage in political theater, and in an attempt to overturn legislation that they don't like and that they lost in earlier House votes. There were no serious talks between the bomb throwers and saner heads.

Meanwhile, the MAGA Right in the House felt that everyday Americans needed to be punished for turning their collective backs on TFG, his sycophants, minions, toadies and turd polishers over the last three election cycles. They have done this through their attempts to gut the social safety networks and implement requirements that the Progressive Left consider draconian. (I should point out that, IMO, not all of the regs suggested are potentially harmful e.g. raising the work/age requirements from 49 to 54 over ten years - the requirement is already in existence, just the age changes incrementally.)

OTOH, insisting that the tax breaks for the wealthy put in place by the Tangerine Tyrant are sacrosanct so that the New GOP donor class is protected monetarily, to the detriment of the Middle Class and those below them on the income scale, is anathema to the "American Dream." (Unfortunately for them this also helps the Dem donor class.)

The House PseudoRepubs, PseudoCons and RINOs further proved their insincerity in the talks by insisting that the DOD budget increases. Of almost any department within the US government, the DOD's is the most bloated. The redundancy within the civilian bureaucracy is costing the government much more than these people produce, and cutting the budget for these agencies would save money. Also, consider ridding the military of its "civilian contractors," and take some of the savings to pay the lower ranks more (which has a possible effect of raising enlistments) while having them absorb the work performed by the contractors.

I'll have to wait and see what the final agreement looks like - even though I expect it to fail in the House to the MAGA and Progressive Left extremists who are upset that they didn't get everything they wanted.

It was still nice to see MyKevin returning to the adage that politics is the art of compromise, as opposed to the New GOP theory that politics is the art of compulsion. Either way, I expect to see a motion to vacate the chair entered by the end of next week at the latest for McCarthy's "weakness" in his talks with Mr Biden.

fnord

Expand full comment

The current “debt ceiling crisis” was foisted upon Kevin McCarthy by Trump and the crazies in the Freedom Caucus. For some of them it is just performance art, getting on TV, and talking a lot of nonsenses about things they don’t care to know about — willful ignorance. But for others, including Trump, it is an attempt tp push the government over the cliff and into chaos. That their actions will result in a great deal of human suffering is the point. In an era of totally mistrust of institutions, corruption flourishes, and that’s their real goal. Bannon is the ideologue; Trump is the means to the end.

Expand full comment

Trump says we must stop the communists, Marxists and fascists? So he’s saying we should stop the radical left and the radical right? I actually think I agree!

Expand full comment

Let's be clear, Trump did not win Texas in two "landslides." In 2020, Trump had 52.06% of the vote. winning by only 5 1/2% In 2016, he won by a larger margin, but still only had 52.23% of the vote. No Republican presidential candidate has run worse in Texas since Gerald Ford lost Texas to Jimmy Carter in 1976.

Expand full comment

Republican masculinity shows itself to actually be arrested development. Republican men remind me of the boys in my 6th grade class back in the 50's. Boastful, trash talking, GI Joe loving, girlie magazine consuming boys putting on their training wheels to become men. Some never got off the training wheels and took that ride right into adulthood. From bird man Josh Hawley to the Proud "Boys" to the 30 yr olds in their mom's basement sending death threats...these men aren't powerful in fact they are the exact opposite, deeply insecure in their own manliness. Their manliness requires accessories, guns, tactical gear, flags and foul mouthed t shirts. They are weak and fearful no matter how tough they talk or look. Some hide behind God, other hide behind keyboards but they are all cheap imitations of what a real man is.

Expand full comment
founding

Did you actually expect anything different from Nancy Mace? Her response to the SC abortion ban was pure unadulterated hypocrisy at its best; and the only constant in republican gobbledygook-speak.

According to republicans, Biden is a senile 80 year old. That said, he also happens to ride his bike daily, is in good shape and has done a decent job, considering what he inherited.

Compare that to the “tin-foil” hat party of Trump. He’s an overly “obese,” cantankerous blob, whose only exercise is driving his golf cart to the green, to take a golf swing after engulfing a basket of KFC and or Taco Bell. Oh and he speaks in incoherent tongues, rattling off unhinged mixed word salads to his flock daily.

Tough decision.....who to vote for......:)

Expand full comment