Media circus and as already pointed out, consent manufacturing for further social spending cuts.

Not only is it a circus, but the debt ceiling simply must be raised for the US project to have a chance of continuing. It's not a point of discussion. If the US were to default on its debt, a plurality if not still a majority of global monetary reserves would likely crash in value, causing a global recession like no other. For what is the US federal debt but treasury bills, and since 1971 US treasury bills have been used in lieu of gold as the primary central bank asset backing other currencies.

The US ruling class is terrified of the current slow moving dedollarization, but since it's happening slowly everyone can adapt to the US no longer being the global monetary and imperial hegemon. Now imagine this slow moving dedollarization train happening simply overnight, for that's what I think would happen were the US to default on its debt. It would be absolutely catastrophic.