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GOP congressman insists Trump's highly partisan debt ceiling posturing is not partisan at all [1]

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Date: 2023-05-21

Watch:

x BYRON DONALDS: Trump said the debt ceiling shouldn't be used as a negotiating wedge when he was president, and when asked why he's not saying that now, he said because he's not president



CHUCK TODD: Do you realize how absurd that sounds? pic.twitter.com/qfg2HPfFeX — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 21, 2023

TODD: “I want you to respond to something former president Trump said about the debt ceiling in 2019. Take a listen.” TRUMP (CLIP): “I can’t imagine anybody ever even thinking of using the debt ceiling as a negotiating wedge.” TODD: “Why don’t you agree with him on this?” DONALDS: “Well, first of all, he also said the other day on a rival network that he said that when he was president, and when asked why he wasn’t saying it now, he said because he’s not president.” TODD: “Do you know how absurd that sounds?” DONALDS: “That is not absurd. He’s always negotiating, Chuck. Chuck, he’s always negotiating. That’s what he does. That’s actually one of the reasons why so many deals for our country worked out to our benefit as compared to his predecessors, both Republican and Democrat, because he’s always negotiating.” TODD: “Do you realize how partisan that sounds ...” DONALDS: “That is not a partisan statement.” TODD: “… what is good for me is not for thee. He’s basically saying ‘when I’m president, there’s no negotiating on this, but hey, when somebody else is president, screw ‘em.’”

Okay, first let’s look at the claim that Trump was a great negotiator, because there’s essentially zero evidence to support that.

Trump wanted to pass an infrastructure bill, but that would have taken months of detailed, give-and-take negotiations—and at least a superficial understanding of what his administration was trying to accomplish—and none of that is Trump’s strong suit, so we got no infrastructure bill.

Trump wanted to strike a deal with North Korea. He gave them credibility and one grossly inappropriate, treason-adjacent salute, and in return they gave us … bupkis.

Trump took a hard line against China on trade. When Republicans—and Trump himself—mention his otherworldly negotiating skills, his dealings with China are what they’re most likely to touch on. But those talks were, by any reasonable metric, an abject failure.

Axios:

What was supposed to happen: The trade war was billed as a plan to bring China to its knees by choking off the all-important American market with 25% tariffs on many imports that would rein in the U.S. trade deficit, boost American exports and slow China's rise as a global superpower. What really happened: "The trade war with China hurt the US economy and failed to achieve major policy goals," a recent study commissioned by the U.S.-China Business Council argues, finding that the trade war reduced economic growth and cost the U.S. 245,000 jobs. Last year, the U.S. trade deficit widened to its largest on record. In the fourth quarter, the U.S. goods trade deficit hit its highest share of GDP since 2012 and the U.S. current account deficit jumped to its highest level in more than 12 years in the third quarter.

So, sure, Trump may “always” be negotiating, but he’s “always” doing it badly.

As for “that is not a partisan statement”—uh, yes it is. It’s as partisan as it gets. Trump—whose administration oversaw an explosion of government debt—clearly wants the U.S. economy to crash, because he wants Joe Biden to look so helpless that Americans are willing to send an open, unapologetic insurrectionist (whose policies, by the way, made the deficit far worse) back to the White House. It couldn’t be more obvious. And yet the media still too often pretend that Republicans’ latest debt ceiling standoff is about something other than cutting off the oxygen to a rapidly improving economy in order to hurt President Biden. And, Republicans are betting, after Biden is fatally wounded, they’ll be able to resume control and reopen the deficit spigot—this time in the form of more upper-class tax cuts.

This has always been Republicans’ plan, of course. Anyone who’s paying attention can see it. It’s so obvious, even Trump can see it. He’s simply the only one foolish—and cynical—enough to say it out loud. And that alone should end his latest campaign to ruin everyone’s lives for another four years. But with vertiginous spin doctors like Donalds by his side, he can simply keep those absurdities rolling ad nauseam. After all, it’s the Republican way.

Check out Aldous J. Pennyfarthing’s four-volume Trump-trashing compendium, including the finale, Goodbye, Asshat: 101 Farewell Letters to Donald Trump, at this link. Or, if you prefer a test drive, you can download the epilogue to Goodbye, Asshat for the low, low price of FREE.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/5/21/2170554/-GOP-congressman-insists-Trump-s-highly-partisan-debt-ceiling-posturing-is-not-partisan-at-all

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