Well, now we know why 15 Republican holdouts flipped and voted to elevate Kevin McCarthy to the Speaker of the House. McCarthy agreed to give the hard-right Freedom Caucus the keys to the car on pushing for national debt default. And even then, there are still five Republicans opposing Qevin's bid for the Speakership.
We should have seen this coming. Rep. Ralph Norman (R-NC) told reporters on Wednesday that McCarthy would have to commit to "shut down the government rather than raise the debt ceiling" to win his opponents' support.
"That's a non-negotiable item," Norman said.
The Intercept reports:
A reporter asked Norman if he meant default on the debt, as the debt ceiling and a government shutdown are not directly linked. "That's why you need to be planning now what agencies — what path you're gonna take now to trim government. Tell the programs you're going to get to this number. And you do that before chairs are picked," he said, referring to the process of choosing and installing House committee chairs.
You know which programs he's talking about. If we default on our debt, the economy will feel the pain. Inflation will worsen, and the dollar won't be worth shit. We had a really good job gains report today. Republicans are already planning to sabotage it. Blow up the economy to own the libs. Well done, GOP.
