I spoke to McClatchy‘s Dave Catanese for a piece in the Lexington Herald-Leader about Republican Leader Mitch McConnell’s game of chicken with congressional Democrats on the debt ceiling.
For the moment, McConnell’s bet is that because Democrats are in power, they will shoulder more of the blame if the country somehow stumbles into default. Among Republican voters, it might even be a bigger risk to accommodate more Biden-branded spending.
“Who the median voters will blame if things go south is an open question — and in part a function of how you guys cover it,” said Liam Donovan, a Republican strategist. “But your average Republicans will not object to the conference playing hardball here, and for GOP members there may be more immediate risk if they are seen as capitulating on the debt limit and facilitating the Biden agenda.”