This week, the Republicans began rolling out their classic "Two Santa Claus" scam. When Reagan became president, the national debt was less than $1 trillion. One of his advisers suggested that Republican presidents should jack up the debt as hard, as high, and as far as possible with massive spending on the military and other things that gave them their donor class big bucks. Then, as soon as a Democrat becomes president, they should all start screaming about how bad the national debt was so they could use that as a justification for cutting Social Security, Medicare, unemployment insurance, food stamps, and all the other social programs that Republicans say are socialism.

He said that the Republicans needed to become the "tax cut Santa Clauses" and use these deficits to force the Democrats to "shoot their Social Security Santa Claus." Reagan took his advice and tripled the national debt; Bush and Trump both doubled it. Now that Republicans are becoming more and more convinced that a Democrat will be elected president next year, expect to hear, as started today on Morning Joe, lots and lots of screaming about the national debt coming from the GOP. once that mean get some traction, they will then start talking about "entitlement reform," which is GOP code for cutting Social Security and Medicare.

-Thom