In a development that will surprise exactly no one, there’s more than a little kicking and screaming going on these days in Washington over the debt ceiling debate. Utah Senator Mitt Romney, a throwback from another era of US politics, has a message for the rabble-rousers on both sides: pipe down.

That means stop playing brinkmanship with a US debt default, Romney tells Ian Bremmer in the latest episode of GZERO World.

“Our economy will be dramatically impacted almost immediately” Romney warns, if a default comes to pass. Despite the dysfunction that is already kneecapping this young Congressional session, Romney is confident that a deal will get passed before the worst comes to pass. “At the end of the day we are going to get it done, because if we don’t we’ll get blamed.”

Watch the GZERO World episode: Sen. Mitt Romney on DC dysfunction, Russian attacks, and banning TikTok

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US President Donald Trump arrives to announce reciprocal tariffs against US trading partners in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, DC, USA, on April 2, 2025.
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From civil conflicts to trade wars to the rise of new technologies, GZERO runs through the stories that have shaped this year in geopolitics.