Blog Credo

The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.

H.L. Mencken

Wednesday, May 31, 2023

They Aren't ALL Nihilists

 Josh Marshall notes that the Freedumb Caucus has preemptively surrendered on the debt ceiling deal. He posits that it's at least a little curious how that happened.

I think an understated reason why a deal got done is because - for all the extreme rhetoric - most Republicans are not nihilists. They're grifters, hypocrites and charlatans, but they aren't nihilists. They embrace the language and métier of Trumpism because it gets them access to the direct mail lists and fundraising. 

Tanking the global economy does not fundamentally help them. Does it help lunatics like Boebert and Gaetz? Sure. They are lunatics. But most of them just want this cushy job that strokes their ego and provides them with a steady access to money and the trappings of power. Defaulting on the US's sovereign debt and plunging the globe into economic chaos doesn't do that. Ranting about drag queens and banning Toni Morrison does.

The critical mass of DC Republicans are dangerously cynical, but not THAT dangerously cynical.

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