President Biden may have just saved the country

With the U.S. House of Representatives having passed a bill on Wednesday night to suspend the nation’s debt ceiling, and the U.S. Senate passing the bill late last night, it is now all but certain that a historic Republican-caused default on the U.S. debt has been averted. President Joe Biden is expected to sign the bill at any time, and to address the nation this evening. While there is plenty of credit to go around, President Biden deserves the most praise for the extreme competence, professionalism and political savvy with which he has handled the issue.

Here is Biden’s statement after Wednesday’sj House vote, with emphasis added:

Tonight, the House took a critical step forward to prevent a first-ever default and protect our country’s hard-earned and historic economic recovery. This budget agreement is a bipartisan compromise. Neither side got everything it wanted. That’s the responsibility of governing. I want to thank Speaker McCarthy and his team for negotiating in good faith, as well as Leader Jeffries for his leadership.
This agreement is good news for the American people and the American economy. It protects key priorities and accomplishments from the past two years, including historic investments that are creating good jobs across the country. And, it honors my commitment to safeguard Americans’ health care and protect Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. It protects critical programs that millions of hardworking families, students, and veterans count on.

Ron DeSantis (center), riding higher in 2021

Florida Governor and would-be 2024 Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis has had a very bad week. First, on Monday, DeSantis continued his war against The Walt Disney Company, threatening to build a state prison or competing theme park next to Walt Disney World. Thus far, DeSantis has been on the losing end of his fight against the very well-lawyered Disney, which began when the gay-friendly Disney criticized DeSantis’ new “Don’t Say Gay” law. And this latest statement by DeSantis seems petty, as well as possibly unconstitutional.

Then, on Tuesday, DeSantis traveled to Washington, D.C. to gain support from Republican members of Congress for his all-but-announced presidential campaign. But instead, three Florida Congressmen took the opportunity to endorse DeSantis’ main rival, Donald Trump. Moreover, in one especially embarrassing instance, Rep. Lance Gooden of Texas literally walked out of a meeting with DeSantis and announced that he is endorsing Trump for President.

Given that DeSantis and Trump are the two clear front-runners for the Republican presidential nomination (with Trump ahead and gaining in the polls), there is little doubt that DeSantis’ troubles benefit Trump. Indeed, Trump piled on DeSantis on Tuesday by attacking his incompetence in the Disney matter, writing, with either typical name-calling or a typical Trump spelling mistake, “DeSanctus is being absolutely destroyed by Disney.”

The question is, do these DeSantis failures help or hurt the Democrats for the 2024 presidential election?

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis

Donald Trump has already announced that he is running for president in the 2024 elections. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis seems hot on Trump’s heels, scheduling trips to early primary states Iowa, Nevada and New Hampshire, and otherwise looking like he will announce his presidential candidacy any day now. The possibility of a messy primary battle between them (and announced candidate Nimrata Randhawa a/k/a Nikki Haley, as well as other likely candidates, such as Mike Pence and Richard Pompeo) has some in the political press salivating over the potential for big ratings and readership. Democrats should also celebrate the possibility of a destructive Republican primary campaign.

As we’ve mentioned many times, the Republican Party is in a state of civil war. Sometimes the war is more hidden, and and other times it spills out into the open. In this case, Trump and DeSantis might have a few ideological differences, as can be expected. However, both Trump and DeSantis specialize in a fascist, dictatorial approach. For example, while Trump was in the White House, his press conferences were full of attacks on the (non-right wing) press. And in the ultimate wannabe dictator move, when Trump lost the 2020 election, he concocted the “Big Lie” that the election was stolen from him, and incited an insurrection against the U.S. Capitol to stop and reverse the counting of electoral votes that would certify Joe Biden as president.