𝗗𝗨𝗠𝗕, 𝗗𝗨𝗠𝗕𝗘𝗥 𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗗𝗨𝗠𝗕𝗘𝗦𝗧 𝗙𝗢𝗥𝗖𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗚𝗢𝗩𝗘𝗥𝗡𝗠𝗘𝗡𝗧 𝗦𝗛𝗨𝗧𝗗𝗢𝗪𝗡 𝗪𝗜𝗧𝗛 𝗧𝗢𝗧𝗔𝗟 𝗜𝗡𝗘𝗣𝗧𝗜𝗧𝗨𝗗𝗘

"Increasing the debt ceiling is not great, but we'd rather do it on Biden's watch." Donald J. Trump, 12/18/2024.

With only 32 days until Trump takes office, the next four years look to be an extremely bumpy ride.  Even after one term as President, Donald J. Trump still doesn't understand how government works.  Now, Trump wants to kill the bipartisan-negotiated spending bill, just as he killed the bi-partisan immigration bill this past February.

After weeks of negotiation, Trump, at the last minute, wants the debt ceiling increased "on Biden's watch," so he can, once again, give a tax cut to the  ultra-rich once taking office, while blaming Biden for the debt increase. 

Trump's efforts to combine the spending bill with raising the debt ceiling is blatantly political and completely unnecessary.  If the spending bill doesn't pass, the U.S. Government shuts down Friday, whereas raising the debt ceiling to make room for Trump's proposed tax cut for the wealthy can be done in the summer.

Over one/fourth of the current national debt of $29T, $8T, was added by Trump during his first term to accomplish that tax cut for the wealthy.  

Elon Musk is even more blatantly dumb:  "No bills should be passed {by} Congress until January 20, when @realDonaldTrump takes office. None. Zero."

So, Trump risks a government shutdown because he wants to add an increase in the debt ceiling to a spending bill House Speaker Johnson has been negotiating for weeks with the Democrats and was on the verge of passing, while Musk says "pass no bills" until Trump takes office, guaranteeing a shutdown.

What makes this last second effort to block this spending bill so unnecessary is that Trump, Musk, Vance and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson have been completely chummy in recent weeks with Johnson spending time at Mar-a-Lago and all four attending the Army-Navy football game December 14.  There was time to work this all out without a government shutdown, but the foursome were just too inept.