Tom Cotton and Ted Cruz may have just provided a glimpse into potential 2024 GOP primaries
Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) presented very different views on how the Republican Party should handle debt going forward during a private lunch, which The Washington Posts suggests may have been a brief preview of the 2024 GOP primary.
Cruz warned his colleagues against spending too much on the next round of coronavirus relief funding, claiming voters could rebel in November if the national debt keeps rising, the Post reports. "What in the hell are we doing?," he reportedly asked.
But Cotton reportedly took the opposite stance, arguing the party needs to rack up debt if it wants to retain power. He reportedly made the case that spending big now would save money in the long run, because if Republican voters turn on the party for not protecting them during the economic crisis, Democrats will win back the Senate and spend more over a longer period of time.
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While this particular battle might look different by 2024, the Post notes that both Cruz and Cotton have aspirations of succeeding President Trump as the next Republican president and ideological squabbles like this will likely increase over the next couple of years between prominent members of the party. Read more at The Washington Post.
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Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.
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