Fresh from the debacle of backing down after his absurd decision to shut down the government because of his demand that Congress fund his stupid wall, Donald Trump faces the issue of what he can do to get his funding before the next deadline of February 15. Now the person who harshly criticized him during the 2016 campaign but has since become an grotesquely obsequious toady, senator Lindsey Graham, says that he is advising Trump to tie wall funding to the raising of the debt-ceiling, another long-standing favorite for hostage taking.

An influential Republican senator is urging President Donald Trump to up the ante in talks over his border wall: To push for an increase in the national debt limit as part of a legislative package to avert another government shutdown in mid-February.
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Taking such a step would amount to a dramatic move by the President: He could dare Democrats to block funding for the border wall and risk sending the country into default in the process.

Sure, why not send the country into default? What could possibly go wrong?

I don’t think that the default threat will be carried out because while a government shutdown largely affects ordinary people (at least in the short run), a default immediately disrupts the financial sector and we know that they are the ones whose welfare really matters to the party establishments.

I suspect that these threats are meant to soften us up, so that people will meekly accept an justifiable emergency declaration to build the wall because of relief that the government is not being shut down again or throwing it into default.