On the Politics of Pure Populism (2)

This is far from a given, but assume that the Biden economy is a roaring success. How will the GOP respond?

Here are the choices:

1. Whine about the deficit and how we’re burdening our grandchildren.
2. Ramp up the culture wars to 11.
3. Engage in vandalism and hostage taking. Demand massive spending cuts in exchange for voting to keep the government open and increasing the debt ceiling. Stick to your guns when Biden refuses and see if he blinks.
4. Pick a presidential candidate with a genuinely populist economic agenda similar to Biden’s in 2024, and fight the election on cultural/identity issues.

#1 and #2 are a given; they’re already doing that. I will address #4 in my next post. The one you should be really concerned about is #3. That issue will come up in a few months. My prediction is that the base will be pushing for a showdown over the debt limit, and that the possibility of default will dominate the political discussion for weeks, if not months.