2011 was the glory day for the CLs. Since the Reactionaries weren’t in complete control of the Republican Party, the locus of opposition to Obama was spending, not culture wars, rigged elections, and illiberal democracy. The CLs combined with the PBPs and the Reactionaries to force the Democrats to agree to spending cuts that hobbled the economic recovery for years. Heady times, indeed.
Today is different, because the Reactionaries are in control, and they have their own agenda. Fighting wokeness is in; spending cuts on programs that largely benefit white Christians are out. Paul Ryan has given way to Marjorie Taylor Greene. And so, while we are probably going to have a repeat (and worse) version of the debt crisis, the ransom will be different, and so will the outcome.