What did Donald Trump do today?
He got very upset about having to do his job in the coming year.Trump lashed out today at Congressional Republicans for passing a 2023 budget bill that raised the debt limit in such a way that it will expire in 2025. He posted this on his private social media site:
It's true that the debt ceiling has been used for brinksmanship in recent years, but only by Republican majorities in Congress against Democratic presidents: once in an attempt to force President Obama to sign a repeal of the Affordable Care Act, and twice already during the Biden administration. As Trump himself has admitted, Democrats have treated it as sacrosanct. Here's how he described a meeting with Democratic leaders in 2019, shortly before the debt limit was suspended for the rest of his term:
The extension of the Debt Ceiling by a previous Speaker of the House, a good man and a friend of mine, from this past September of the Biden Administration, to June of the Trump Administration, will go down as one of the dumbest political decisions made in years. There was no reason to do it - NOTHING WAS GAINED, and we got nothing for it - A major reason why that Speakership was lost. It was Biden’s problem, not ours. Now it becomes ours. I call it “1929” because the Democrats don’t care what our Country may be forced into. In fact, they would prefer “Depression” as long as it hurt the Republican Party. The Democrats must be forced to take a vote on this treacherous issue NOW, during the Biden Administration, and not in June. They should be blamed for this potential disaster, not the Republicans!
It's true that the debt ceiling has been used for brinksmanship in recent years, but only by Republican majorities in Congress against Democratic presidents: once in an attempt to force President Obama to sign a repeal of the Affordable Care Act, and twice already during the Biden administration. As Trump himself has admitted, Democrats have treated it as sacrosanct. Here's how he described a meeting with Democratic leaders in 2019, shortly before the debt limit was suspended for the rest of his term:
I can’t imagine anybody ever even thinking of using the debt ceiling as a negotiating wedge. When I first came into office I asked about the debt ceiling, and I understand debt ceilings, and I certainly understand the highest rated credit in history, and the debt ceiling, and I said, I remember, to Sen. Schumer and to Nancy Pelosi, "Would anybody ever use that to negotiate with?" And they said "absolutely not, that’s a sacred element of our country." They can’t use the debt ceiling to negotiate.
It seems likely that the reason Trump is afraid that Democrats will ruin the credit of the United States—which would be absolutely catastrophic—is that it's what he would do himself. Here's what he said when it was President Obama facing that threat:
Why does this matter?
- Thinking that other people want to do the bad things that you want to do is called projection, and it's not a sign of good mental health.
- Being elected president means having to do the job of being president.