Trump calls for abolishing the debt ceiling

[LetMyPeopleVote]

24. Why Trump is suddenly fixated on getting rid of the debt ceiling

Maybe Donald Trump is suddenly demanding unnecessary debt ceiling reforms because he's afraid Democrats will act like him?
https://bsky.app/profile/charley2024.bsky.social/post/3ldoutpbro224

Link to tweet

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/trump-suddenly-fixated-getting-rid-debt-ceiling-rcna184886

It was against this backdrop that Donald Trump waited until a bipartisan agreement was complete — and until a shutdown deadline was just two days away — at which point he decided to make a new, odd, and wildly unnecessary demand, confusing a whole lot of officials in both parties in the process. Politico reported:

Donald Trump and JD Vance injected themselves further into an escalating fight over federal spending, demanding that House Republicans scrap a plan that would avert a government shutdown within days. Trump and Vance issued a statement Wednesday insisting that Congress raise the nation’s debt ceiling and cut a range of spending proposals instead of passing the package that Speaker Mike Johnson and House Republicans had negotiated with their Democratic counterparts.

The fact that the president-elect jumped in at the last minute to take a sledgehammer to a bipartisan agreement is itself a dramatic problem. But Trump’s decision to also add a debt ceiling increase to the multifaceted mess wasn’t just problematic, it was also bizarre. NBC News’ Sahil Kapur went so far as to characterize it as “mind-boggling“ to see the Republican push a provocative demand that’s wholly unrelated to the ongoing debate.

Democratic Rep. Dan Goldman of New York found it so odd that he told MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell that Trump’s demand “makes absolutely no sense.” The congressman added, in reference to the president-elect, “I’m concerned about his mental capacity.”.....

But stepping back, there’s no great mystery as to why Trump has stumbled into this. The New York Times reported:

As he prepares to push an agenda of tax cuts and border security, Mr. Trump fears that a debt limit fight next year could interfere. His plans are expected to cost trillions of dollars, much of which will most likely need to come from borrowed funds. A drawn-out debt limit fight next year could force Mr. Trump and Republicans to bow to the demands of Democrats and could consume the congressional calendar.

I think that’s right, though I’d add a related point: Trump is likely terrified of the idea that Democrats might act like him.

Let’s not forget that during his first term, the then-president condemned the idea of using the nation’s debt limit as part of a partisan hostage strategy that threatened the nation. In 2019, for example, Trump declared, “I can’t imagine anybody using the debt ceiling as a negotiating wedge.” In Oval Office comments, he went on to describe the policy as a “sacred thing in our country.”....

Evidently, the president-elect would be delighted if Democrats were to simply take such a possibility off the table now, before he’s even inaugurated.