In future history books, the chapter explaining America’s descent into complete dysfunction might as well end with the sentence “But senators Manchin and Sinema wouldn’t do it, because they considered it ‘partisan.’”
https://twitter.com/theplumlinegs/status/1598293545500147715
(Please note that the chapter title should be reserved for the Republican Party, to leave no doubt who is chiefly responsible for this mess. But the chapter should ask: “Was there nothing else that could have been done?” That’s where Sinema and Manchin come in. #bipartisanship)
When I talk to an international (mostly German) audience, the concern over how the domestic situation in the U.S. is going to affect the rest of the world is often directed at scenarios like “What if Trump becomes president again and leaves NATO.” But it’s not just Trump.
To me, a more immediate concern is the dysfunction, paralysis, and turmoil that is likely to define the foreseeable future: A country entirely consumed by the domestic political conflict, falling apart, with a radicalizing GOP in position to make functional governance impossible.
America is too big and powerful - politically, economically, militarily - for this not to affect every aspect of international relations, for it not to significantly hamper any attempt to solve the most urgent collective action problems on a global scale. That’s frightening.
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