West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin, a conservative Democrat long willing to buck the party on important and more progressive issues, has been anointed the most powerful man in a closely divided Senate. He will more often than not be the 50th vote on priority Democratic legislation, and his (and Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s) very public unwillingness to kill the filibuster that has the party’s agenda already in danger of going unfulfilled.
I’ve long wondered what makes Manchin tick. He comes from an increasingly red state, so it’s fair to guess that he likes to stick his thumb in his progressive colleagues’ eyes in order to assert his independence to voters in West Virginia. But the Mountain State is also one of the poorest states in the country, its poverty an affliction as old as the state itself. Since it broke away from Virginia during the Civil War, West Virginia’s abundant natural resources have been exploited and its wealth extracted and distributed to the industrial barons to its north and south.
As a result, West Virginia depends on federal government largesse, and in a new interview, Manchin suggests a long list of infrastructure projects that would fit right in with the New Deal that he cites as his inspiration. The story, in the Charleston Gazette-Mail, paints Manchin as a man who intimately understands the history and pain of the people he represents… but also someone who seems to have an astonishing misunderstanding of national politics at this moment.
Here’s the first quote that baffles me:
“There’s a moment here. I try to explain it to them and you get all this bull — about power and this and that,” he said. “I have watched power destroy people, good people, because they abused it.”
On the surface, he’s not wrong — power certainly corrupts people. All of human history can be boiled down to power corrupting people.
But here’s the thing: Just before that, he also says this, referring to Democrats in the Senate and House:
“That’s the window. That’s it. Two years. That’s all we got.”
He understands that Democrats have two years to get their agenda passed or face high odds of losing their majorities. And given both the paper-thin margin in the Senate and Republicans’ refusal to work with Democrats, the only way for Dems to enact their agenda is to use their power. That means killing the filibuster, overruling the parliamentarian when necessary, and passing, among other things, the legislation that he says he supports, including the aforementioned massive infrastructure spending, immigration reform he endorses, and gun control laws that he cites elsewhere in the story.
Also strange: Manchin said on Fox News tonight that he wanted to lower the amount of money going to state and local governments, which is how much of the infrastructure spending would actually happen, as well as lower weekly unemployment payments.
Not exactly helpful for a state with a higher-than-average unemployment rate. His obsession with bipartisanship is no excuse for further weakening the bill after killing the minimum wage increase — there’s no way any Republican is going to vote for it.
The next Manchin quote is even more telling:
For the next two years, Manchin said, he will be the “spear catcher.” From the far-left to the far-right and in the middle, Manchin said, he expects the hits to come from every angle, on every subject, every day.
And every spear will be taken in the name of bipartisanship, he said. The Jan. 6 breach of the Capitol changed him, Manchin said. It showed a divided country that needs made whole again.
That Trump could contend let alone win is evidence Democrats should not ram through their priorities, he said.
This gets to the heart of the matter. Joe Manchin took the absolutely wrong message from the Capitol insurrection. The people who stormed the Capitol weren’t demanding bipartisanship. They weren’t looking for moderation. They will never vote for Democrats, no matter how much the party kneecaps its own ambitions and priorities.
Further, Democrats will not win elections if they fail to deliver on their promises. If they fail on reviving the economy, forgiving college debt, massively expanding affordable housing, lowering prescription medication costs, creating a public option for healthcare, and rescuing the voting rights under attack, they will absolutely get creamed in 2022. Not being as bad as Trump isn’t going to work four years later.
Unfortunately, Manchin continues to believe that Republicans will work with him in good faith, citing his friendship with Susan Collins, who has proven to be nothing but a Republican partisan. He continues to be stuck in the antiquated politics of 30 years ago, when Democrats thought that screwing over working people would prove their toughness and please conservatives instead of just making things worse and driving disgruntled voters to a GOP that takes advantage of racism and xenophobia.
Manchin also says that he supports an $11/hour minimum wage, citing the fact that it would take a family of three just above the (absurdly low) poverty line of $22,000 a year. He doesn’t understand why people are angry and disaffected. And unless his more progressive colleagues can help him see the light, we could be in big trouble.
P.S. I have a political newsletter called Progressives Everywhere, which focuses on political analysis, elections, health care, voting rights, workers’ rights, and other issues. We’ve raised over $6 million to help Democrats flip seats in tough districts and red states. Recently, I’ve done big features on progressive ballot initiatives, saving the Supreme Court, the gig economy, and the economics of student debt. I interview lots of Democratic candidates and big-name lawmakers. It’s news, major interviews, and analysis of under-reported issues from across the country, all in one place.
It’s free! You can subscribe to the newsletter here!