How can the Republicans do anything to "tip the scale" when the Democrats control the House and Senate and the White House.

Regarding whether we would be in an inflationary cycle without the pandemic, the answer is probably "yes".

The country was coming out of the pandemic without serious inflation until Biden passed his stimulus plan which Democratic economist Larry Summers was adament would set off a wave of inflation. So only if you argue the pandemic gave cover to Democrats who put through a lot of spending in the name of pandemic relief could you possibly say "no".

But Biden has proposed plenty of non pandemic spending with his "Build Back Better" proposals and only Manchin and Sinema said "no" or things would be far worse. The San Francisco Fed published a recent study that said half of the current inflation is due to Biden's fiscal stimulus policies especially the stimulus bill.

I don't think we are in uncharted waters. Sure the pandemic adds a "wrinkle" but as recessions go, the pandemic induced recession was one of the shortest recessions on record and largely over by the time Biden took office. GDP was up over 37% since the pandemic low.

I think it feels very much like when Jimmy Carter was president . High oil prices drove inflation then as now, and rather than the pandemic, the nation was digging out from all the Vietnam related spending. Government spending is government spending, the reasons for the spending might be different but the impact on the economy is inflation.