I should refer to what was said by Dan Gillmor on Mastodon:

Post by Dan Gillmor. "When the Republican extremists (redundant?) have full control over the House agenda, once they actually permit a speaker to be named, one of their top priorities is to cause the United States to default on its debt. That will trigger a global economic catastrophe. It will be essential if and when they do this, for Big Journalism to make totally clear -- with no quoting "both sides" bullshit -- what has happened. What worries me is that I'm not sure journalists will rise to the occasion." Posted on Jan 6, 2023 at 23:38

The rules package that is waiting in the wings for when Kevin McCarthy gets elected does in fact contemplate such a scenario. I wish Dan Gillmor was being paranoid. He’s not.

Republicans are in a bit of a identity crisis. Are they extremists or not? Morgan Trau talked recently about how efforts were had at the statehouse in Columbus to shift away from extremist leadership.

Quoting @MorganTrau@mas.to: https://mas.to/@MorganTrau/109645036715844875 Post by Morgan Trau. "EXCLUSIVE: Deals, betrayals and censures — how the new Speaker of the Ohio House was chosen. news5cleveland.com/news/politi…" Posted on Jan 6, 2023 at 19:14

What does a party do when it has a faction that wants to watch the world burn and a faction that wants to govern? Notwithstanding how much people dismissed the idea it still seems that a division of the party may actually be beneficial. Trying to contain the MAGA wing within the Republican tent hasn’t been working too well lately. The farce of the speaker’s election in DC is a definite example of that.

We’re in a spot where the country can slide out of control pretty quickly with the crew taking power in DC. The thoughts by retired general Mark Hertling are a good point upon which to wrap this collection of thoughts.

Quoting @markhertling@mstdn.social: https://mstdn.social/@markhertling/109646168091186531 Post by Mark Hertling. "As @POTUS mentioned in emotional remarks earlier this week, our allies around the world are not yet convinced we’re back. Tonight isn’t going to help further burnish our improving credentials on the world stage." Posted on Jan 7, 2023 at 00:02