Playbook: “In-the-know sources tell us that Trump has privately pushed Johnson to quickly raise the debt ceiling since the election, hoping to clear the decks for his post-inauguration sprint. The speaker, we’re told, refused to take the request seriously — probably because he knows any debt ceiling increase would mean major concessions to Democrats, which could in turn mean kissing his speaker’s gavel goodbye.”
“Johnson’s not wrong about that: Even before Trump made his debt ceiling demand, some conservatives were so peeved with the CR that they were threatening to oppose Johnson’s bid for speaker early next year. Are those members really going to get behind a snap debt ceiling hike just because Trump said jump?”
“But the Trump world’s point of view is this: If Johnson had heeded Trump’s advice from the start, the president-elect would have protected him from any conservative blowback, allowing him to emerge with his gavel intact. Now, Trump and his brain trust feel frustrated that Johnson gave away concessions to Democrats without giving Trump the debt ceiling hike he wanted.”
