Prominent 'Never Trumper' Conservative Slams ‘Reckless’ and ‘Cynical’ Mitch McConnell for Blocking Biden’s Agenda, $3.5T Spending Bill
"The problem with playing the game of chicken is that if you get it wrong, it can end in a horrific crash and everybody dies," Charlie Sykes says
A prominent conservative commentator and opponent of Trumpism is taking aim at Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell for “reckless” political maneuvers aimed at punishing President Biden and the Democrats which are designed not only to shut down the federal government — but force the government, for the first time in history, to default on its debts and throw the wobbly US economy into turmoil.
McConnell led unanimous Senate Republicans in successfully blocking the razor-slim Democratic majority from passing legislation Tuesday which would keep the federal government funded and which would raise the debt ceiling which, in turn, would allow it to keep servicing past debt.
Republicans are doing so in anger over the Democrats' $3.5 trillion Build Back Better Act, which would fund much of Biden and the Democrats' domestic agenda — including the largest-ever federal investment in the fight against global climate change.
Unless Democrats find some new way to prevail, the federal government will shut down at 12:59 pm Thursday in the midst of both a global pandemic and a struggling economy. Moreover, without action on the debt ceiling, the government for the first time will default, creating unprecedented economic instability.
“I mean, it is reckless for them to play around with the national credit, and they know that,” said Charlie Sykes, editor-in-chief of the online publication, The Bulwark, a former radio host and a fierce opponent of Donald Trump's. “But Mitch McConnell also understands that the Democrats are in charge and that if he does torpedo the economy, that the blame will fall on the [Democrats]. It’s a deeply cynical move that obviously is the reverse of what he has said in the past.
“But if I could also comment on what Michael Steele just said, Michael is absolutely right,” Sykes said in an on-air interview with MSNBC Monday, referring to the former chairman of the Republican National Committee, and another Trump foe. “You know, what you’re seeing now is a very, very dangerous game of political chicken in Washington, and the problem with playing the game of chicken is that if you get it wrong, it can end in a horrific crash and everybody dies.
“Democrats may not be in a position to rescue the Biden presidency this week, but they are in a position to torpedo it, and I think they need to be very, very serious about all of this, especially when they are on the one-inch line when it comes to a bipartisan infrastructure package. This was the signature dramatic legislative win by Joe Biden, he got 69 votes in the Senate, it would be political malpractice of the highest sort for them to torpedo that because they don’t get everything they want. And so I think this is a dangerous moment in Washington where everybody is playing political chicken with massive stakes for the country and obviously for the Biden presidency,” Sykes added.
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