President Biden, amid warnings about America defaulting on its debts, denies blame, while President Trump tells Republicans not to cut a deal with Democrats despite doing so in 2017. A failure, it seems, is better politics than a solution.

“The buck stops here,” a phrase popularized by President Truman, refers to a knife with a buckhorn handle placed in front of a poker player when it was his turn to deal, a role that he could perform or refuse.

Truman accepted that a president had certain responsibilities that were his alone. When faced with problems, most commanders-in-chief picked up that buckhorn; when they considered the ramifications on poll numbers, they knew it wasn’t a good look, so they governed before the cameras while making the political sausage in private.

Mr. Biden is changing that dynamic; instead of wearing his poker face in debt ceiling negotiations, he’s playing hot potato. This may be a hangover from his two terms as vice president and 40 years in the Senate, when he never had to deal — or even cut the cards.

In a press conference over the weekend, Mr. Biden said he’d blame any default on “MAGA Republicans,” a label he’s embraced as a slur. It’s the sort of mudslinging other presidents left to underlings, knowing it’s counterproductive for a leader seeking to persuade and pressure the opposition to compromise.

“I’ve done my part,” Mr. Biden said of the negotiations, throwing up his hands and charging that “it’s time for the other side to move their team positions because much of what they proposed is simply, quite frankly, unacceptable.” 

What a petulant performance. Americans cast a gimlet eye on presidents who give up on overcoming obstacles, no matter how recalcitrant, but when asked about his role in a default, Mr. Biden said, “No one will blame me,” and, “based on what I’ve offered, I would be blameless.” 

Mr. Biden then said “MAGA Republicans” wished to damage the economy with a default because, “I am president, and presidents are responsible for everything. Biden would take the blame, and that’s the one way to make sure Biden’s not re-elected.” 

The use of the third person is a tell that Mr. Biden is stuck in his responsibility-free roles of the past, just another player hoping for an ace, looking to compile a winning hand regardless of how everyone else at the table fares.

Mr. Trump, meanwhile, is urging his party to stand pat, too. “Republicans should not make a deal on the debt ceiling unless they get everything they want,” he posted on Telegram in all caps. “That’s the way the Democrats have always dealt with us. Do not fold,” he wrote, closing with three exclamation points. 

As a challenger, Mr. Trump has the luxury of hardline stances, but he is in a position no candidate has faced in a century because he has a record as president. When the buck knife found its way to the Resolute Desk during his term, he picked it up and got to work. 

Faced with 2017’s debt ceiling crisis, Mr. Trump struck a deal with “Chuck and Nancy,” Senator Schumer and Speaker Pelosi, and bragged about it, doing an end run around his own party.

Mr. Biden flirted with a similar strategy, only to garner pushback from Democrats for the mere act of negotiating with Speaker McCarthy. It seems never to have occurred to Mr. Biden to tell his partisans that, to paraphrase Chevy Chase, “I’m president and you’re not.”

The view from Mr. Biden’s end of Pennsylvania Avenue ought to be different, and the main issue of a default is not who takes the blame when there will be plenty to go around. Treating this as just another partisan issue only undermines the White House position that this is a singular crisis on which our republic stands.

If defaulting would herald Armageddon, Mr. Biden can’t throw down his cards and fold. Across 40 years and three presidential campaigns, he has asked Americans for the chance to be the dealer on big issues. Now he has the buck, and it stops with him. Fourflusher.