Never Kevins really were Never Unless They Can Threaten to Destroy the Economy Kevins

It now looks like Kevin McCarthy might finally just barely get enough votes to be speaker either tonight or over the weekend. He bought off the opposition by agreeing to threaten the U.S. economy with total collapse (i.e. refuse to raise the debt ceiling and trigger a default) unless the Democrats agree to cuts they never otherwise will agree to. In other words, the same shit-show we lived through during the Obama presidency. Notably, the strategy didn't work back then, but that doesn't mean they aren't convinced it will work this time!

I can only wonder how this would have played out differently if Democrats had just raised or abolished the debt ceiling in 2022 as people were telling them to. That strategy was probably off the table because Joe Manchin had ruled out using an exception to the filibuster to raise the limit the year before. So if they had tried in the lame duck session, the Republicans just would have filibustered it. So thanks Joe Manchin for letting Republicans use the debt ceiling as a hostage again.

But if Manchin had gone along and they dealt with the debt ceiling issue back then, how would the speakership issue be resolved? The rebellion against McCarthy wasn't originally about the debt ceiling. It was more vauge than that. If debt ceiling hostage taking is the Never Kevin's excuse to end this debacle what would there excuse have been of that was off the table?