Senator Joe Manchin: Donald Trump’s BFF
By
Leonard Zwelling
The surest way of guaranteeing that we have not seen the last of Donald Trump on the national political scene is to have a failed Biden Presidency. Mitch McConnell thinks so and so does Kevin McCarthy. They are doing everything in their power to just say no to everything proposed by the White House.
Now in all fairness to the GOP, the huge deficit that Biden wants to run up and the equally enormous tax burden he wishes to place on businesses and the wealthy make the Biden plan a bad idea. But somewhere in between no and let’s spend money we won’t have for hundred years must be a compromise that will address infrastructure, the plight of low income Americans, and the Republican attempt to stack all future elections in favor of the GOP through redistricting and the gerrymander.
So how do we decompress this logjam?
There are only two ways.
Either the GOP (or at least ten GOP senators) will enter into meaningful negotiations with their Democratic counterparts or the filibuster has to go away once and for all. Joe Manchin (D-WV) is making sure nothing happens.
Mr. Manchin will not support the Democratic attempt to stop the actions of Republican state legislatures to reduce voter access to the polls. He won’t support the elimination of the filibuster. He won’t back any meaningful legislation that does not have Republican support. By doing this, Manchin has locked up the legislative branch. There will be no progress forward on any Biden proposals and nothing will increase the attraction of Donald Trump as a presidential candidate more than the lack of accomplishments on the part of the Biden Administration. This is Mitch’s plan and it’s working.
I am not sure what Mr. Manchin’s game is unless he just views his constituents as really being pro-Trump and his job is not to rock the boat if he plans on running in the future.
Meanwhile, you would think that at least ten Republicans in the Senate could agree that the origins of the mob that attacked them on January 6 are worthy subjects for a special commission. Nope. That couldn’t get past the filibuster either.
I really cannot believe that the Founding Fathers had this in mind when they formulated the Constitution. The filibuster isn’t in there. Its history is largely one of use in the Jim Crow Era to stifle any attempts to enfranchise minorities.
I understand why Mr. Manchin is being such a purist. He believes in bipartisanship. So do I. Mr. McConnell and Mr. McCarthy do not. All they want to do is stop any progress suggested by the Democrats from ever seeing the light of day until November of 2022 when they believe they will make sufficient congressional gains to take control of both houses.
It is time for everyone to stand up and be counted as either wanting to move the country forward or leave it languishing. There are deals to be made. The liberal Democrats cannot get what they want without some movement from the GOP and the GOP is currently getting everything it wants by doing nothing. Manchin could fix this. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like he’s willing to forego purity of policy for the practicality of politics. Too bad.
