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When President Joe Biden delivered remarks at the White House on Friday morning, it was ostensibly to boast about the newest data on the deficit, but the Democrat also took the opportunity to deliver an election-season message about the economy more broadly.
“If you’re worried about the economy, you need to know this,” Biden said. “The Republican leadership in Congress has made it clear they will crash the economy next year by threatening the full faith and credit of the United States for the first time in our history, putting the United States in default unless we yield to their demand to cut Social Security and Medicare. You heard that one, right? You all heard them say that. That’s what they’re saying.”
I’d quibble with the “first time in our history” phrase — GOP officials adopted this same dangerous strategy in 2011 — but the rest of the presidential warning rang true. As we discussed last week, GOP officials have spent recent weeks making their plans for next year plain: They want significant changes to Social Security and Medicare, and if Democrats balk, Republicans say they’re prepared to crash the economy on purpose by refusing to pay the country’s bills.
These threats aren’t coming from obscure crackpots in the party. GOP leaders have freely and publicly espoused the plan — out loud and on the record, as if there’s nothing to be embarrassed about. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy to House Republican Study Committee Chairman Jim Banks both talked up the strategy in recent days, as have Rep. Jim Jordan and the GOP congressmen vying for the chairmanship of the House Budget Committee.
In fact, they keep talking about it, to a degree that defies common sense. Politico reported this morning:
Regaining the House majority in two weeks would undoubtedly lend Republicans more leverage in next year’s biggest budget and spending battles, including an already messy fight with Democrats over lifting the debt ceiling. Some conservatives are already hellbent on using the debt limit and government funding to extract major concessions from Democrats, such as restoring federal spending caps or overhauling Social Security and Medicare.
The article emphasized the aggressive strategy espoused by Republican Rep. Chip Roy, a member of the far-right Freedom Caucus, but the Texan is hardly alone. Even Republican Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina, who occasionally displays an independent streak, said yesterday that she’s also on board with her party’s plan to threaten to crash the economy on purpose.
With just 15 days remaining before Election Day, an unexpected rhetorical consensus has emerged: Democrats are effectively telling voters, “Republicans intend to destabilize the economy on purpose,” and Republicans are effectively responding, “Yes, that really is our plan.”
The motivation behind the candor is the subject of some debate. In the abstract, many might expect GOP officials and candidates to simply lie, assure the electorate that their party has no intention of destabilizing the economy, promise not to touch Social Security and Medicare, and then reverse course after reaping the rewards of their dishonesty.
But at least on this issue, Republicans are instead comfortable confirming Democratic warnings — perhaps in the hopes of securing something resembling an electoral mandate. It’s becoming easier to imagine McCarthy and his cohorts declaring early next year, “We threatened to crash the economy, voters elected us anyway, so meet our demands — or else.”
It won’t be altogether fair — much of the country doesn’t know what the debt ceiling is, much less recognize the GOP plan to use it in pursuit of Social Security cuts — but these are nevertheless the circumstances we find ourselves in.
James Carville, perhaps best known as the architect of Bill Clinton’s successful 1992 presidential campaign, wrote on Twitter last night, “The Republicans told us they were going to end a woman’s right to choose. We did not believe them. They did. Now, the Republicans are telling us if they get power, they will shut the government down to slash Social Security and Medicare. I believe them. You should too.”
As Democrats craft their message for the final two weeks of the election cycle, I can think of worse pitches.