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 When President Joe Biden sat down to meet with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and hash out their differences over the debt ceiling, it highlighted the tension in the Democrat’s political persona.

Biden has long advertised himself as a bipartisan deal-maker and a Washington institutionalist who knows how to reach across the aisle to get things done. But he’s also a fierce partisan who likes to throw sharp elbows at his Republican foes.

This shows up when it comes time to deal with House Republicans over how to raise the debt ceiling and address high levels of federal spending (negotiations the White House has repeatedly said are unnecessary in the first place) that could decide whether the country faces economic calamity.