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as long as there is enough energy left to start the printing presses

Intuitively this makes sense but in reality it is not practical. As soon as investors hear the presses crank up (metaphorically speaking) they can predict what's coming and will dump all their US debt, driving up interest rates and forcing a deep[-er] US recession. Politics will then correct this before the USA becomes Northern Zimbabwe.

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I'm not worried about the US becoming Zimbabwe at all (northern or otherwise). But under extreme circumstances, when the alternatives are to default outright or to inflate the debt away, the latter will always be preferrable for a country indebted in its own currency. It's not an option for other countries, so I think it's a useful distinction in spite of the issues you correctly point out.

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