The Patriot Post® · Joe Manchin: The Egocentric Ace of Spades
The Georgia U.S. Senate runoffs were not just frustrating for conservatives but also extremely detrimental to the fabric of our great nation. Congress’s upper chamber is now evenly split 50-50, which will provide Vice President Kamala Harris with ample opportunities to cast tiebreaking votes on big-ticket legislation — legislation that will invariably expand the welfare state, curtail First and Second Amendment rights, and nurture globalism, among other things.
That’s assuming, of course, that Democrat Joe Manchin is concretely steadfast to his party in the exceedingly ominous years ahead. But if history is any indication, that’s not going to happen. Senator Manchin, of course, has a penchant for being somewhat of a maverick. On the surface, that’s a good thing, particularly considering he officially caucuses with an increasingly radical Democrat Party. Metaphorically speaking, if the Democrat Party were a desert, Manchin would be the dry creek that occasionally and refreshingly fills with water. Ironically, though, his long-held “moderate” credentials while caucusing with the Democrats have suddenly become rather problematic, because the very balance of power is at stake.
Manchin represents the state of West Virginia, where approximately 69 out of every 100 voters cast their ballot for President Donald Trump in the November presidential election. There are plenty of red states in the U.S., and some of them came close to matching West Virginia’s margin. But only one — Wyoming — had a higher percentage of voters who went for Trump (70.4%). That’s how red the Mountain State is.
This brings us to a sobering reality: Manchin is the most selfish Democrat in America. The same credit he deserves for being willing on numerous occasions in the past to cross aisles when his party bent too far to the left now paradoxically serves as the grounds for severe criticism.
We’re in the radical era of Joe Biden now. That, combined with the unusual composition of a split Senate and Manchin’s wobbly affiliation with the Democrat Party, means his ambiguous fidelity to stymying full-frontal socialism wreaks of opportunism. He’s not just sitting on the fence, making people guess which way he’ll vote, but he’s also relishing it. It goes without saying that the vast majority of West Virginians — indeed, even Manchin himself, if past remarks are any indication — want nothing to do with the Left’s socialist agenda. It’s not enough for Manchin to, as a Democrat, object to eliminating the filibuster, or packing the courts, or admitting extra states to pack the Senate with Democrats. He ought to represent his state and vote for the right policies as a Republican by switching parties.
If Manchin would do what he should have done long ago — caucus with the GOP, as many observes have long suggested he do — the balance of power would change, and Senate Democrats would have to fold more often than not. But here we are, with Manchin pompously holding the ace of spades, and an equally anticipative Kamala Harris grinning in the background.
As Mark Alexander notes, “The Biden/Harris regime is mounting a full assault on natural resource energy, and Trump’s grassroots West Virginia support was tied in part to his energy independence policies. How long can Manchin claim the ‘D’ party and still claim to represent his constituents?” Alexander concludes, “West Virginia’s Gov. Jim Justice is Republican and Sen. Shelley Moore Capito is Republican. In a state Trump carried by almost 70%, maybe it is time to mention ‘recall’!”
Edited.