Throughout the fall, there was ample talk about a looming “Christmas crisis” for American consumers, who’d soon confront empty shelves, delivery delays, and systemic supply-chain problems.
As The Washington Post’s Dana Milbank noted in his new column, Republican leaders and their allies seemed a little too eager to not only predict failure, but also to position the GOP to capitalize on the public’s difficulties and discontent.
House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy joined 159 House Republicans in a letter to President Biden saying his policies “will certainly ensure that this Christmas will not be merry” because of a “supply chain crisis” and inflation. Chairman Jim Banks of the House Republican Study Committee, citing the same reasons, wrote to colleagues: “Our job as Republicans is to explain to the American people what the grinches at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave did to ruin Christmas.”
Note the lack of qualifiers. GOP leaders didn’t hedge their bets; they were convinced that Democratic policies would “certainly” be responsible for a holiday disaster. It was a matter of when, not if.
Steve Cortes, a former Trump campaign adviser, made related predictions in early October, warning of a “miserable” Christmas for American consumers. “I’m coining it [and] calling it the Biden Blue Christmas,” he added.
Two months later, these predictions aren’t exactly holding up well. The New York Times reported last week, for example, that the “Christmas crisis” never materialized. “[D]elivery companies have given consumers little to complain about,” the article noted. “By some measures, in fact, they have done a better job this holiday season than even before the pandemic.”
It may be tempting to think there were fewer breakdowns because fewer Americans were shopping, discouraged by higher prices and product supplies. But that’s also wrong. CNBC reported this week:









