The Light at the End of the Democrats' Tunnel is a Mitch McConnell Driven Train

This morning I broke down the four big issues before Congress this week. What Democrats fail to realize at their peril is they’ve been so distracted by these four fights and just want to get out of the tunnel that they’re about to walk straight into Mitch McConnell’s train.

Join me on radio as I talk about this in the next few minutes. I’ll also talk about Donald Trump in Georgia on Saturday. But let me break it down here too.

If the Democrats do not add the debt ceiling to reconciliation, thereby avoiding a filibuster fight in the Senate, McConnell and the GOP will extract concessions. The GOP did this with Obama and got sequestration.

Moderate Democrats are livid at progressives. They want to rein in spending. Moderate House Democrats would go along with real-world cuts even if progressives will not. The moderates could say they were fiscally responsible even as they voted for progressive social issues.

Progressives are still stung by House leaders rallying against Nina Turner, the progressive activist who lost a special election to Congress in Ohio. If Schumer and House leaders are forced to go along with cuts to get the debt ceiling raised, you may very well see AOC run against Schumer for the Senate.

Pelosi is done after this term. Steny Hoyer has been hanging out waiting for time to come as Speaker. The progressives will come after him. They probably can’t stop him, but they can extract real concessions that make it untenable for moderates.

In short, if the Democrats do not put the debt ceiling into reconciliation, they put McConnell in the driver’s seat on the debt ceiling. He’ll demand cuts that provoke intra-Democrat fighting. The Democrats have been on the verge of crack up for some time. The media has tended to focus on the GOP crackup. McConnell intends to force the issue and the Democrats are about to give him the hammer and chisel he needs to break up the Democrats’ coalition.

Democrats are so distracted by reconciliation, BIF, the continuing resolution, and the debt ceiling — all tied to Joe Biden’s failure to lead — they are about to put McConnell in the driver’s seat to steer the debt ceiling debate.

This week, Democrats are rapidly concluding it is better to rush a vote, lose, and move on than continue to air their dirty laundry in a chaotic legislative process. They see the light at the end of the tunnel. It is not what they think it is.

Tune in now.