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Mitch McConnell On Bluffing And Hostage-Taking

I’ll let him speak for himself rather than deploy any harsh analogies of my own:

I think some of our members may have thought the default issue was a hostage you might take a chance at shooting. Most of us didn’t think that. What we did learn is this — it’s a hostage that’s worth ransoming.

This is what I meant about innovating congressional Republicans versus uncreative White House. Do I think it would be a good idea, as a general practice, for presidents to ignore statutory limits on bargaining authority and instead finance the government with large denomination platinum coins? No, I don’t, not any more than Mitch McConnell thinks forcing the government into a payment prioritization scenario is a good idea. But if McConnell is willing to make the threat, you need to try to come up with something that can be your counter-move.

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