Nick Kristoff puts the Republicans and their nihilism into perspective:
If China or Iran threatened our national credit rating and tried to drive up our interest rates, or if they sought to damage our education system, we would erupt in outrage.
Well, wake up to the national security threat. Only it’s not coming from abroad, but from our own domestic extremists.
So what do we do? Either we give them the ransom they want and they win. Or we refuse and they still win while the world economy disintegrates. Which would you choose? Personally, it's not a choice. It's blackmail and treason.