Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s political future is unclear, with Politico reporting, “Some of Sinema’s friends believe she’ll retire rather than risk losing” in a three-way race as an independent running against a Democrat and a Republican. That said, Jacob Rubashkin reports that Sinema’s campaign now directs online donors not to ActBlue but to Anedot, a payment processor used by a lot of Republicans, which could be a signal that she is running and doesn’t expect ActBlue to be part of her campaigning going forward. Either way, she’s decided on her political present: insulting Democrats at fundraisers packed with Republican donors.
Sinema’s loyalty to big money reigns supreme, but in everything else, she continues to show herself to be a poser of the first order and, in the words of a moderate Democratic senator, “the biggest egomaniac in the Senate.” The big question, watching her, is whether she is delusional enough to really believe she has a bright political future or is simply basking in the attention right now and figuring it will be enough to make her rich after she leaves office.
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A big part of Sinema’s approach to donors is making sure they know that she is there for the rich. “Without you our taxes would’ve gone through the roof,” a Republican donor reportedly told her, and was met with the response, “They would have.” Martin additionally reports, “one senior administration official told me they’ve concluded the way to win Sinema’s vote on a crucial agency nominee is to have private equity executives weigh in with her.”
If you’re rich—like really rich, rich enough to give her an internship at your Sonoma winery or maybe a sweet lobbying gig when she leaves the Senate—Kyrsten Sinema has got your back and you have got her ear. That’s the message and the reality.
But Sinema isn’t just quietly letting rich people know that she is a good place to send their campaign contributions. She’s performing for them in a way that is absolutely 100% about her own ego and her own self-image as a maverick. Just as much of what Sinema wears echoes her high school and college years, she’s been publicly engaging in high school-level (or is it middle school-level) insults. Politico’s Jonathan Martin recounts how Sinema entertained a group of Republican lobbyists with descriptions of Democratic caucus lunches:
“Old dudes are eating Jell-O, everyone is talking about how great they are,” Sinema recounted to gales of laughter. “I don’t really need to be there for that. That’s an hour and a half twice a week that I can get back.”
Now she was rolling.
“The Northerners and the Westerners put cool whip on their Jell-O,” she shared, “and the Southerners put cottage cheese.”
While it’s extremely relatable to want to skip meetings, senator might be the wrong job for someone who takes that view. And given the ego issues at play, and Sinema’s seemingly endless willingness to sit around with Republicans talking about how great they are, it kind of seems like she just didn’t like not being the shining star of the room. Sinema assumes she’s entitled to Democratic attention and adoration. She’s willing to work for it from Republicans.
Likewise that “old dudes” is largely about drawing attention to Sinema as a relatively young woman (though note that Rep. Ruben Gallego, her opponent should she run in a Democratic primary, is younger than Sinema). But to the extent it’s about flattering Republicans by mocking Democrats, let’s be clear that the median age of Senate Democrats is 65.4 compared with 65.3 for Republicans, while Democrats have 15 women in the Senate (not counting Sinema the independent) and Republicans have nine women.
And Jell-O? Is she suggesting that Sens. Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock are the old dudes eating Jell-O with cottage cheese? Because I have to say … that doesn’t really scan. Yet they’re the only Democratic senators from the South, unless she’s counting Virginia. No, this sounds like a practiced bit to show her contempt for her former party.
Martin reports that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has been trying (or was, prior to his extended time in the hospital and rehab after a fall) to recruit an establishment Republican to run against Sinema, not trusting her to be a real Republican despite her efforts to win him over. One possible thought process behind all this loud contempt for Democrats might be that Sinema believes it’s a way to demonstrate that she will not return to and its likely to drift further from her former party. That’s not the way McConnell thinks, of course, but it could be a way that Sinema, for whom everything revolves around personality and attention, is thinking.
In the end, no one can trust Kyrsten Sinema for an agenda any deeper than shielding rich people from taxes. She is ruled by her ego, and her decision-making is weak and unreliable, so people can’t even make decisions about how to appeal to her based on a rational assessment of what would strengthen her politically. Democrats are just going to have to run the strongest possible race against her. Republicans have a harder decision to make, since they’re the ones whose attention and affection she is courting.
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