(#4510) Joe Manchin is actually killing bipartisanship

      Why ever would republicans need to compromise with democrats if all they have to do is vote no on the Biden agenda? Manchin by his refusal to adjust the filibuster rules has taken any incentive republicans would have been forced to accept off the table, thus making the need to compromise with President Biden moot. Now if Manchin had come out and said the he would go to adjusting the filibuster route if a compromise between republicans and President Biden proved impossible then that would have put pressure on republicans to act in good faith as the threat of an all democratic passed bill would be over their heads. But no, Joe Manchin did the opposite and actually has now harmed the bipartisan effort he has used as an excuse not to change the filibuster rules.
     What is going on with Manchin and Sinema will be an investigation in the future to dig out the real cause for their obstinate stance that defies reality. In any reasonable book, when something defies reality there is a nefarious action that is beneath it. The struggle is not over yet though as to getting the filibuster out of the way and all eyes are on that struggle so there will be little to no wiggle room for obfuscation of the reasoning of Manchin and Sinema. Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer will start to force votes and put those two democratic senators on the record to make fact out of their threats to vote against needed legislation. Meanwhile President Biden will continue to work with a few republicans to try to hammer out a compromise bill that meets his expectations.
     Whatever happens going forward with Manchin and Sinema, they are casting their lot with an argument that has no valid logic. For that they will pay a heavy price both politically and personally as their legacies will be shameful and held to a derogatory light. The anger that is building out in our society with all the hard fought work put in by our democratic party to only have it sabotaged by two democratic senators is on the same level with the treasonous acts committed by the trump administration. The two democratic senators who are adamantly opposed to changing the filibuster will be treated as pariahs in their own party and their futures are going to be ones of no easy living!