The Patriot Post® · Biden Blinks

By Gary Bauer ·
https://patriotpost.us/opinion/97001-biden-blinks-2023-05-03

Late Monday afternoon, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen sounded the alarm on the state of the U.S. economy. After assessing federal tax receipts, Yellen warned that the United States could hit the debt limit and risk default as early as June 1, months earlier than previous projections.

Tax receipts are running “substantially lower than expected,” indicating that the Biden economy is faltering. Faced with that disturbing news, the Biden White House blinked.

President Biden invited the congressional leadership — House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, House Democrat Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Senate Democrat Leader Chuck Schumer and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell — to the White House next week for negotiations on what happens next.

Speaker McCarthy has been calling for budget talks for months, but Biden has repeatedly refused to negotiate. Yet, a growing number of Democrats realize that Biden’s petulant behavior isn’t a good look, especially when it comes to risking a default.

Unfortunately, I suspect this is just a PR ploy. I really don’t expect the Democrats will budge at all from their absolutist position. In fact, Politico reports that “Biden has no plans to drop his demand for a clean debt ceiling increase.”

The Biden Administration likely has a plan on how it’s going to play this out step-by-step. At a minimum, the White House knows that its left-wing media allies will provide all the air cover they can.

I hope Speaker McCarthy has a plan because in the past, the GOP usually hasn’t had a plan and ends up walking away empty-handed.

Don’t misunderstand me. I want to extract concessions on spending, too. But as Mike Tyson famously said before a major fight, “Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.”

What happens when the GOP gets “punched in the mouth” by the president, by his compliant, lapdog media and by the stock market?

Buckle up. It’s going to be a bumpy ride!

The Left’s Growing Extremism

Speaking of not having a plan, look at what’s happening on the abortion issue. A growing number of Republican politicians are running for the tall grass now that we have finally overturned Roe v. Wade and started facing some pushback in response to that decision.

As a result, we’re seeing headlines like this: “GOP Divided On Abortion As Dems Unite For 2024.” Well, new research shows what unites Democrats — abortion on demand.

According to the Pew Research Center, Democrats have become dramatically more pro-abortion. So much so that 84% of Democrats now believe abortion should be “legal in all or most cases.” That’s up 21-points since 2007.

Meanwhile, Republican views on the issue haven’t changed. All the talk of the GOP “moving too far right” is just nonsense. And the left’s pro-abortion extremism isn’t where most Americans are.

Even NPR had to admit, after its latest round of polling, that “Americans want abortion restrictions.” The poll found that 67% of Americans support significant limits on abortion, while only 22% supported abortion on demand at any time in the pregnancy.

While we’re on the topic of leftist “extremism,” a majority of Democrats in the Colorado House of Representatives recently voted against legislation increasing penalties for indecent exposure in front of a minor child.

Seriously, you can’t make this stuff up! Why on earth would any politician vote against tougher penalties for perverts who expose themselves to children?

Evidently, these so-called “progressive” politicians feared the legislation could be used to prosecute drag queens, which tells you everything you need to know about the perverted idea of “drag queen story hour.”

About That Letter…

As you know, the Deep State interfered in the 2020 election when the 51 former U.S. intelligence officials signed a public letter alleging that the Hunter Biden laptop story was Russian disinformation.

The “lamestream” media and the Big Tech oligarchs used that letter to justify censoring any and all news about Hunter’s “laptop from hell” and the Biden crime family’s corrupt foreign influence peddling schemes. Their lies and censorship had a clear effect on the outcome of the election.

Those so-called “intelligence experts” have now been exposed as partisan hacks. Former Obama CIA Director Michael Morell was very clear during his congressional testimony about why he did it. He was asked to do it by Antony Blinken and because he wanted Joe Biden to win the election.

In recent days, we have learned that at least one Russia expert refused to sign the infamous letter. Daniel Hoffman, a former CIA Moscow station chief, rejected Morell’s letter because “there was no evidence” that Russia had anything to do with the laptop. Hoffman added that the arguments in the letter were “convoluted.”

You’d think the so-called “journalists” in the media and the tech titans would have realized that. But, no. They were all in the tank for Biden and were desperate for an excuse — any excuse — to quash the story.

Morell and his other co-conspirators in this election fraud have lost whatever credibility they had. At a minimum, they should lose their security clearances, too.

Biden Punishes Success

Do you pay your bills on time? Do you manage your finances responsibly? Have you worked hard to earn a good or excellent credit rating? If so, Joe Biden wants to punish your success.

A new Biden regulation took effect yesterday that penalizes Americans with good credit scores by assessing them higher fees when they buy a house. The money generated will be used to subsidize home loans for buyers with less-than-ideal credit.

This is all being done in the name of “equity” — and I’m not referring to the improving financial value of your home. This is the left’s idea of “equity,” which is another neo-Marxist code word for radical (often race-based) policies.

The backlash against this terrible idea is growing.

The top financial officers of 27 states are demanding that Biden immediately rescind his new mortgage rule. They warn that his “unconscionable” policy amounts to a new “middle-class tax hike” that will “further depress home sales” and result in a “disaster.”

What could possibly go wrong when the government encourages risky mortgages? The Great Recession caused by the housing crisis and mortgage meltdown wasn’t that long ago!

2024 Update

  • Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced that he is not running for president.
  • While Youngkin is definitely out, South Carolina Senator Tim Scott will tell us for sure what his plans are on May 22nd.
  • Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley caused consternation when she appeared to side with Disney in its ongoing battle with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Haley invited Disney to relocate to South Carolina, adding her state isn’t “sanctimonious” in its opposition to Disney’s woke agenda — whatever that means.
  • The latest CBS News poll finds Donald Trump leading the GOP primary contest by 36 points over Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has yet to declare his candidacy. Trump has also agreed to participate in a CNN town hall event next week with New Hampshire Republican voters.