With that in mind, consider the latest edict from Emperor Manchin:
Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin on Sunday defended his decision to vote against a sweeping voting rights bill and reiterated his opposition to gutting the filibuster, declaring in the strongest terms yet that he is not willing to change Senate rules to help his party push through much of President Joe Biden’s agenda.”I believe that partisan voting legislation will destroy the already weakening binds of our democracy, and for that reason, I will vote against the For the People Act. Furthermore, I will not vote to weaken or eliminate the filibuster,” Manchin, a moderate Democrat from West Virginia, wrote in an op-ed published in the Charleston Gazette.
The implicit threat underlying those comments is a threat to switch to the Republican party just as West Virginia Governor Jim Justice did if they push him too hard. They won’t. There is more than a handful in the caucus who a re happy to let Manchin take the heat for their own desires.
Maybe he would end up being like Mitt Romney or Lisa Murkowski but Mitch McConnell would happily take that dynamic. After all, Mitt, Lisa and Susan always come through in the clutch. The Democratic “mavericks” aren’t quite as accommodating to their own party.
I suspect this spells the end of the Biden agenda. They might be able to pass a tepid infrastructure bill that basically takes money from other vital programs. But that’s about that.
So bring on the investigations, butchuz. You’ve got nothing else to do.