On Wednesday we received an outlook for the next four years within a few hours. Elon Musk provided the shock troops to derail a spending deal that was expiring at the end of the year, and Donald Trump delivered the final blow. To say that the excitement was based on rumors and myths would be an insult to rumors and myths; Trump is already calling for a “clean” funding bill, retaining the $100 billion for disaster financing and the $30 billion for farmers, which, from a monetary perspective, include virtually all of the additions.

But Trump also added an entirely new demand: take the debt limit off the table instead of forcing him to deal with it next year. And he doesn’t just want the debt limit raised; he specifically wants it eliminated. “The Democrats have said they want to get rid of it. If they want to get rid of it, I would take the lead,” Trump told NBC News.

Let’s not think about it too much. Regardless of who proposed it, any day we can say goodbye to the stupidest element of our political structure is a good day.

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A quick summary: The debt limit is an artificial cap on the U.S.’s borrowing capacity that can only be raised by an act of Congress. This has been going on in the US since 1917 and in the ensuing 100+ years they have passed no more than a few balanced budgets. In other words, the debt limit does not slow government spending; It simply seeks to limit the ability to pay the inevitable debts that arise from these expenses after the decisions have already been made. No other country on earth has this absurd mechanism except Denmark, and the government there years ago managed to raise it higher than it will ever reach, effectively disabling it.

This was a mild nuisance for decades until Barack Obama decided to use the debt limit as leverage for a “grand bargain” on deficits. The Tea Party Republicans realized their luck: They could threaten to hold hostage the full faith and credit of the U.S. government and trigger an international financial crisis if they were not paid a ransom. Since then, we have lurched from crisis to crisis whenever the Democrats are in power.

Democrats’ desperate need to be seen as responsible means that the same tactics will never be considered if a Republican takes over the presidency. And incredibly, in the rare moments when the Democrats are in total control in Washington, they have never bothered to defuse this bomb, only to feign surprise when the Republicans take the same hostage again.

Debt limit policy is completely asymmetrical between the parties.

In the most recent debt ceiling crisis in 2023, Congress suspended the process until January 1, 2025, in exchange for a two-year spending cap and, among other things, a continued loss of IRS enforcement funds that could result in nearly all of the debt ceiling Money flows out. In other words, the ransom removed an important Democratic agenda item that would not have been possible without the hostage scenario.

Republicans already had a plan to use their trifecta to address the impending debt limit expiration next year. Extraordinary actions by the Treasury Department would push back the borrowing cap until next summer, and GOP leadership planned to include a debt ceiling increase in the first reconciliation package.

But Donald Trump, for some reason, is afraid of debt ceiling increases happening under his watch. Maybe it’s because he knows that right-wing Republicans in the House will never vote to raise the debt limit because he still mistakenly believes it is a shield against excessive spending. Maybe it’s because he knows his base agrees with this false argument, including shadow President Elon Musk. Maybe it’s because he simply doesn’t want any limits on presidential power. Or maybe he actually realizes that the debt limit is a stupid optic that serves no purpose. Or at least that’s what he told NBC: “It doesn’t mean anything except psychologically.”

The solution he came up with is to simply get rid of the thing. And that would be absolutely the right solution. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) was virtually one of the few Democrats to encourage troops to “fight every battle in Congress,” but her response to Trump’s proposal was immediate and unequivocal: “I agree with President-elect Trump, “That Congress should repeal the debt limit and never rule by hostage-taking again.”

In contrast, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) chose to link himself to Republican efforts to cut Social Security: “GOP extremists want House Democrats to raise the debt ceiling so Republicans in the House of Representatives can reduce the size of your Social Security check.” There is some truth to that, but there is a slow attention to the customs and customs of how these debt limit battles usually play out.

If the Republicans’ offer is to include a debt ceiling increase in the year-end funding bill, then Jeffries is right: Republicans should bear the full burden that comes with passing this proposal, on the theory that you are giving your opposition an anvil should oppose every opportunity. However, you won’t get much out of it. It’s pretty clear that voters don’t make decisions based on who supported raising the debt limit at any given point in their congressional careers.

On the other hand, if the offer is part of it eliminate the debt limit, because Dear Leader Trump said so, Jeffries should co-sponsor this bill. Everyone knows that the Democrats will not demand some preservation of Social Security in the face of the looming financial crisis; This threat is not credible. Debt limit policy is completely asymmetrical between the parties. And so elimination heavily favors the left side of the aisle.

Since Republicans can’t agree on how to resolve this standoff, Democrats should summarize their demands in one: If Republicans lift the debt limit, they would get Democratic votes for a so-called “clean” settlement. (These likely include disaster relief and an expansion of the farm bill, all of which Trump has advocated.) The benefits of ending the hostage crisis are quite large, much larger than the small ball that Democrats had sought. And the final bill would fit Trump’s stated goals perfectly.

Democrats won’t win many victories in the Trump era. It would be pretty awesome to get one through the back door of the Biden era.