The debt ceiling is a mess, and there's a lot of blame to go around

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy doesn’t seem to be bearing up too well with the pressure of a looming national default and being the guy who is supposed to have 50% of the responsibility for stopping it. But you wouldn’t know it from reading the traditional Capitol Hill media.

That’s six denials of responsibility in 30 seconds’ worth of video from a press availability Wednesday. To be fair, he is under a lot of pressure. His future as speaker is in the hands of guys like Reps. Matt Gaetz and Chip Roy, the hold-out votes on his speakership who have been calling the shots. Gaetz has baldly admitted that he and his fellows “don’t feel like we should negotiate with our hostage.” (The hostage being the full faith and credit of the United States.)

Roy sent a four-page manifesto to all Republican House members Wednesday morning, demanding that they all hold the line against anything McCarthy might be negotiating, that everything they had in the draconian bill they passed be included, because "each are critical and none should be abandoned solely for the quest of a 'deal.'" That’s reinforcing what the Freedom Caucus demanded last week.