In the 4th century B.C., the king Dionysius would let his loyal soldier Damocles sit on the throne so that he could experience what it was like to be king. However, to illustrate more clearly the responsibility, the fear, the pending danger, Dionysius hung a sword over his thrown by a single horse hair. Precariously hanging over the throne by a single hair, ready to fall at anytime, Damocles could no longer take the pressure and stopped taking to the seat.
We mention this little bit of ancient history because it seems like that is where we are now, a metaphoric sword hanging over our country, by a single horse-hair thread. The sense of impending danger and dread.
President Biden said in an interview with the Associated Press that he knows the American people are "really, really down." Americans are down because what they witnessed this week during the Select Committee's January 6th hearings this week and that in fact our democracy was hanging by a thread. Despite knowing the fact that he lost and that the plan for the vice president to dispute the electoral count was illegal, the former president persisted in perpetuating that there was election fraud.
Not only that, but we also learned of the utter callousness (and that's being generous) the fmr. president had for his vice president's well-being and life. It's understandable that committee member Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) wouldn't give away any details, especially when pressed by Mr. Todd on why Mike Pence didn't trust his secret service detail; he's not at liberty to say.
What we do know:
John Eastman knowingly attempted to commit a crime against the Constitution of the United States.
The fmr. president, knowing he lost the election, perpetrated a fraud against the people of the United States by lying about the election results to raise $250 million dollars for a non-existent defense fund, in which the monies went to the fmr. president's personal interests.
There was a tremendous pressure campaign, lead by the president, for Mike Pence to ignore the Constitution by not certifying the vote on January 6th. So much pressure that when Mr. Pence upheld the Constitution, his life and the lives of his family members were put in jeopardy.
The president broke his oath to the Constitution of the United States and abandoned his duty as president on that day.
If that wasn't enough to make the thin threads more taut, there's the economy, which this, that and the other thing that President Biden points to, two things are clear. One, the signs of a coming recession are ominous and the Biden Administration totally dropped the ball and is now playing catch-up.
Former Treasury Secretary Larry Sommers said that while nothing can be forecast with complete certainty, the indicators that he's seen are leading him to believe that a recession is coming.
Demand is way outpacing supply for energy which has been disrupted by war and oil companies cutting back on refining during the pandemic. The supply chain disruptions continue and are exascerbated by high fuel costs have made everything more expense. Not enough micro-chip manufactures, the list goes on. But the bottom line is the Biden Administration reacted too slowly and now the Fed is going to do what it can, but really it just has to run its course.
Mr. Sommers suggested three potential initiatives that could lessen the pain in the short term, while providing a plan for the longer-term. He suggested repealing some of the Trump era tax cuts, reduce the price of prescription drugs and take an 'all of the above' approach to energy in the short term and transition to clean energy.
Here's the rub. Repealing any part of a tax cut is a non-starter for Republicans. They'll message it as a tax hike and that message will get through. The 'all of the above' approach on energy gets a lot of support but any introduction of clean energy initiatives is another none starter. And lastly, we simply don't understand how Congress can't get the price of prescription drugs down. It's such a political winner for everyone, you'd think it's a no-brainer. Alas, to paraphrase Warren Zevon, big pharma brings lawyers, drugs, and money.
All this, on top of coming out of a mindbending, two-year pandemic where over 1 million Americans died then right into a catastrophic war in Europe and it's no wonder we're all hanging on by a horse-haired thread.
Panel: Betsy Woodruff Swann, Politico; Peter Alexander, NBC News; Brendan Buck, Republican Advisor and Strategist; Maria Teresa Kumar, Voto Latino
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