If the Far Right Republicans sound like idiots and act like idiots every time they appear on television, don't be fooled. Their goal is power, and their act has two purposes. The first is to play to their base, which are a group of people who are genuinely stupid, because they believe everything these guys are telling them, even though these guys themselves do not. The second purpose is to play their own rope-a-dope, to appear so misinformed and wrongheaded that the rest of us will believe the power of logic and reason, backed by the establishment, can eventually save the day. The Debt Ceiling crisis is really not about economics at all, although the more social programs that are crippled along the way, the better. What the Far Right is gunning for is Impeachment. As soon as a 'Trillion Dollar Coin' is minted or the 14th Amendment is invoked, they will get what they actually want, which is a chance to de-legitimize the current administration, and if there is a huge economic collapse as a corollary, it just moves the coup d'etat that much closer to becoming the reality they long for. They are not nearly as dumb as they appear, but they are more evil than you can possibly believe.