He has managed to pass a bill by a single vote in the House to raise the debt ceiling and has been able to stand in front of a lot of microphones and say:"We have passed a bill to raise the debt ceiling. Where is the president's bill?"
Moody's Analytics projects that if the House bill were to become law, it would result in the loss of some 800,000 jobs. But perhaps Republicans would be OK with that. A weakened economy in 2024 would improve their chances to take back the White House. It does not matter that we are talking about paying for spending that has already been approved by Congress. It does not matter that Speaker McCarthy voted three times for clean debt ceiling hikes during the Trump presidency. It does not matter that this is all cynical and hypocritical. This is bare-knuckle politics at its ugliest.