Pre-election, Republican lawmakers baffled political observers with their candor: they openly spoke about their plans, should they flip the House, to demand cuts to Medicare and Social Security in exchange for not sending the United States careening into default on its debts.
Please proceed…
No biggie, I’ve only been paying into SS for 50 years, why would I care what happens to that money?
Truism: All cults eventually implode and self-immolate. So be it.
Yeah, cutting Social Security should be a big winner for them. /s
When they get stomped November 2024, of course it will be someone else’s fault. Why? Because, well, reasons…
Where “Owning the Libs” meets “stuffing your own face into a wood chipper.”
Which candidates actually ran on eliminating Social Security? Blake Masters did and he lost, badly.
Who else?
Democrats should use the lame duck session to extend the debt ceiling by enough to make sure this will not be an issue until after the 2024 election.
“…the debt ceiling didn’t come up during the discussions.”
Parachutes are overrated.
Rs to the demographic with the highest voting rate, my demographic, the olds: “Give us back your SS dollars or we’ll destroy the global economy!” Another winning message from the GOP, up there with “Elect us to stop the scourge of school kids peeing in litter boxes!”
Cut SS & Medicare? We’re told that the white working class is the core support for TFG.
We’re also told SS & Medicare are the primary retirement instruments for these folks.
Never knew why we Dems don’t pound hell out of this.
OTOH, the bigotry that drives these supporters is strong enough to overcome any fear of losing those programs.
“If you’re dumber than a rock, morally bankrupt and completely bereft of ideas, find a hornet’s nest to whack. Then stand there and see if it made them mad.”
— Every MAGAthugliclan ever
Owning the libs.™
Republicans want to take the debt ceiling hostage in exchange for cuts to Social Security and other similar programs.
ABSOLUTELY NOT.
The Democrats offer is this…nothing. 
President Lyndon B. Johnson once said, “If you can convince the lowest white man he’s better than the best colored man, he won’t notice you’re picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he’ll empty his pockets for you.”
So…they want to do something that no one wants by doing another thing that no one wants, and the reason is… because the Dems won’t like it?
Republicans! Don’t do drugs!
Biden is old enough to remember when Gingrich pulled a similar stunt and got burned for it.
I expect he’s saying, “Bring it on.”
Regarding Thune, it’s easy for a guy whose salary is $174,000. a year, has guaranteed medical coverage which we taxpayers pay for, a staff of who knows how many which we taxpayers pay for, wants to increase retirement age, and lives, when he’s there, in a fairly inexpensive state unlike anywhere on the Left Coast or The Right Coast. So he needs to shut the fuck up ASAP because he sounds as dumb and as uncaring as Rick Scott or any given repub senator for that matter.
Is this part of their post-midterms self-reflection? “If only we had talked more about taking money from seniors, we would have seen that red wave!”
Pfffft…parachutes are for wimps–Acme anvils are where it’s at, @steviedee111! 
ETA: or breathe air!
As always, the Repubs depend on the Dems saving them from actually implementing the things they run on. That is why nobody believed them when they said Roe would be overturned. Also why the folks in Kentucky didn’t believe Bevins when he promised to gut the ACA in their state. Actually gutting SS and Medicare would devastate millions of elderly who have no other income and very little in savings.