I’ve had a hard time getting into the nitty gritty of the debt ceiling deal discussion. Economics are not my strong suit. To be honest,  I’ve been more interested in the Succession finale, which I’ll get to later today.

I was opposed to negotiations but now that they’ve happened, everyone once again underestimated Team Biden. They struck a blow for experience and expertise after the amateur theatrics of the Trump regime. They sprinkled some Dark Brandon magic over Team KMac and its chief negotiator, former Bobby Jindal aide Rep. Garrett Graves. Team Biden could even be said to have taken a red stick to the congressman from Baton Rouge.

The deal is imperfect but better than expected. Team Biden seems to have exploited KMac’s weakness as a means of ending this dangerous farce. Team Biden knows how to say no. That’s what they said to the ludicrous demands made by the House Freedom Caucus: No, no, a thousand times no.

It’s usually said that the devil is in the details. The opposite is true here: the big picture is what matters as the Republicans are riding with the devil. Presidents always get too much credit for a good economy and too much blame for a bad one. That’s where the blame would fall if there’s a default.

In addition to KMac’s weakness as speaker, Team Biden took advantage of the fact that House GOPers don’t give a rat’s ass about policy. Josh Marshall has been closely following this mishigas, here’s his take on KMac’s Caucus of Crazies:

Another possibility is the nature of the Republican extremists themselves. They don’t really care much about policy. They’re into performative dominance. Like Trump they may prefer whining about McCarthy’s purported betrayal more than actually trying to throw the House into upheaval by overthrowing him. It’s always important to remember that there’s really no other plausible candidate or probably even anyone who wants it.

House Republicans just want to own the libs. The so-called Freedom Caucus types have been known to vote against legislation that they sponsored. Nothing they do makes any sense, so why should this be any different? They should really be called the Nonsense Caucus.

For Democrats, the most important number is 2024. If the economy tanks because of a default, President Biden will take the blame and Democrats will lose an election that was ripe for the taking. Repeat after me: Presidents always get too much credit for a good economy and too much blame for a bad one.

The negotiations have yielded a political and economic win for the Biden administration. They negotiated without looking weak or yielding too much ground. I’m sure our readers can give me an example of bad parts of the final deal. That’s why I’m urging everyone to step back and look at the big picture.

Retaking the House and holding the White House and Senate should be the priority of everyone on the left and center-left. The Republicans have become a neo-Fascist party determined to reset the Wayback Machine to some mythical time without the complications of the real world. The stakes are that high in 2024.

Experience and expertise matter.  It’s time to let Dark Brandon and his aides do that voodoo that they do well.

Repeat after me: Presidents always get too much credit for a good economy and too much blame for a bad one.

Now that we’ve focused on the big picture, let’s get down to the nitty gritty with Gladys Knight & the Pips: