When Joe Biden first pitched the idea that his massive spending agenda would actually cost “zero dollars,” most Americans laughed. Then people realized he was serious, and other Democrats including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi began repeating it. Then the Leftmedia “fact-checkers” hedged, calling the claim misleading but essentially insisting Biden needs time to see how things shake out before declaring it the whopper it really is. For the moment at least, whether Biden intends to spend $0, $3.5 trillion, or the more realistic $5-6 trillion, his agenda is stalled on Capitol Hill.

We’ll admit the bickering between Democrat factions has been entertaining, though we’re also keenly aware that it’s mostly theater. Bernie Sanders and his faithful Socialist Squad disciples are pushing hard for a big agenda. They know that even if Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema succeed in reducing the price tag, even by a couple of trillion dollars, they will have built or introduced the entitlement state objectives they set.

The story of ObamaCare over the last decade proves how difficult it is to end a new entitlement.

Let’s be clear: Biden outsourced his agenda to Sanders. Even though he began his presidency by championing the “infrastructure” spending bill — only a fraction of which is actually infrastructure — he has now thrown it under the bus in favor of Sanders’s larger bill. According to Fox News, “Biden now claims that his Build Back Better agenda does not include the bipartisan infrastructure bill but only the $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill, even though Democrats have attempted to use the former to pass the latter.”

So-called Democrat moderates must be feeling some whiplash. They’ve been demanding the bipartisan infrastructure package pass before even considering anything further. The radical leftists who actually run the party want just the opposite, and Biden has joined them.

“I wrote the damn bill,” Biden insisted of the larger one when he traveled to Congress to twist some arms. “Even a smaller bill can make historic investments in child care, day care, clean energy. You get a whole hell of a lot of things done.” He told them he doesn’t mind sacrificing infrastructure on the altar of socialism.

But can Democrats get this done? Despite a public pledge to hold a vote by September 27, Pelosi keeps having to delay a vote on the “infrastructure” bill that already passed the Senate because the far-left wing is holding it hostage to the bigger bill. Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer have now extended the debate for another month.

Meanwhile, leftist activists are chasing Sinema into a bathroom and kayaking to Manchin’s houseboat to heckle and harass them. Neither senator seems phased — other than doubling down.

Pelosi, Schumer, and Biden have all seemingly concluded that losing their congressional majority in 2022 is likelier than not, so they better enact their fundamental transformation now. And as for the supposed conscientious objectors in the middle, they may talk a tough game, but it’s largely a theatrical farce.

Veteran political analyst Philip Klein zeroed in on Manchin, writing: “To sum up, in the past year and a half, Manchin has already voted in favor of $6.5 trillion worth of spending, and he has indicated a willingness to vote for at least another $1.5 trillion, which would bring the total to $8 trillion. And he is trying to portray himself as the voice of fiscal sanity, because he is not willing to go from $8 trillion to $10 trillion. Call Manchin whatever you want, but responsible budget hawk, he is not.”

Democrats have the votes to pass whatever they like, and the bickering is little more than theater to make the final product seem somehow less radical. That’s why Democrats chose Joe Biden instead of Bernie Sanders — only to allow Sanders to steer the ship from the Senate Budget Committee anyway. Fighting over a trillion bucks here or there is just for show.