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Just a moment...
https://www.axios.com/2024/05/31/joe-manchin-leaves-democratic-party-independent
“Neither party is willing to compromise”
What a load of faux-centrist bullshit. One party has been captured by a grifting demagogue and his protofascist enablers, while the other's run by milquetoast technocrats that have been Lucy-footballed since 2008.
But sure Joe, tell us again about "both sides".
I love how he waited until the day after Trump's conviction to announce this, when the news cycle is still too busy covering Trump to spend any time on a covering it.
Too cowardly to do this when people are actually paying attention, which really is the perfect summary of his career in politics.
I think that's a coincidence. The real deadline is June 1, because there is another deadline in WV for independant candidates to file for the ballot on Aug 1, and those applications can be challenged if the candidate changes parties in the two months prior to the application. So by doing this as late as possible in May, he preserves the right to run for Governor or Senate as an Independant.
And like it or not, if he ran for either of those seats, he would win, and would be better than any Republican who might have won in his place. And if he ran for Senate and won, there is a very good chance that the party he decides to Caucus with will determine which side controls the Senate. So if he wins, he wil still be very popular with the establishment on both sides.
You can expect Chuck to give him any committee chairmanship he wants if it means Chuck can get to 50-50 (where committees are equally balanced, and the VP breaks ties) or 51-49 (which gives Democrats the majority on committees regardless of who is the VP). If Democrats keep all their seats then also gain TX or FL, then Manchin's vote is not as critical and Chuck is in better position to make him irrelevant.
He’s an openly corrupt coal baron whose daughter quadrupled the price of EpiPens when she was CEO of Mylan (while the company donated the max allowed to Joe Manchin’s campaign and probably more to Super PACs).
I realize Republicans are worse but he and his whole family should at least be required to sit in the exit row of unrefurbished Boeing 737 MAX planes. The first good thing they’ll have done for humanity will be helping identify a plane that didn’t get the exit door bolted on properly.
I'm not one of his constituents, but I'll sure miss his votes on judges. We should have drowned him out with more progressive peers before running him out or letting him retire. He's almost certainly going to be replaced by Justice, who is going to be a Trumpian nightmare for you and his other constituents. Manchin does not fit my ideals either but... I'd sure like to nominate some supreme court justices.
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I mean, he didn't have vote on any of the judicial nominees prior to his switch, so I'm cautiously optimistic that won't change. Bernie's also an independent, mind you. (And that's as far as I can ever compare those two people lol)
But yeah, Justice is going to be interesting. He's got so much liability he's sure to be bought up almost immediately (if he isn't already).
Glenn Elliott seems decent (for WV standards, anyway) and has a shot against Justice, but I'm not super confident nor willing to get my hopes up.
I'm more worried about Morrissey than anything.
Yeah, Manchin is obviously a grifter with a lot of oil/gas backing. Dude sucks. I just always take a shitty option with some benefit over the entirely shitty option. The congressional math is tight this year and if Trump gets back in, it'll be our only possible last check (even if we're likely fucked regardless).
I'm with you though, hopefully it doesn't matter. I would be over the moon to see yall re-elect a Dem (even a blue dog) over the possible alternatives, but I'm not holding my breath. Either way, I'm wishing the best for you all.
"Today, our national politics are broken and neither party is willing to compromise to find common ground," Manchin said.
Coming from that obstructionist jackass?
But this won't effectively change anything. I'm pretty sure party affiliation is the wind, you can change that shit back and forth every afternoon.
What matters is who you caucus with. And that, I'm pretty sure, can only be changed when a new two year sessions begins.
Manchin was already obstructing, he'll keep obstructing, and Dems will maintain they're meaningless majority.
This is just something he's doing so when he's out of office he has the option of going full trump.
There's been speculation about a Governor run, which this would help. But this really sets him up for the conservative talk circuit or for a book deal people will buy and never read.
He is technically a Dem senator who we let chair important committees who left the Dem party due to unfair treatment of trump.
The propaganda value of that to Republicans is insane, and why I never understood why the party defend and supported Manchin.
This likely would have happened even if trump was found innocent, he'd have said it proved the trial was politically motivated.
These people are assholes, but they didn't get to where they are because they suck at planning. Same as Hillary doing her cash grab as soon as the verdict came out, there was likely different "merch" if he got off about how we should have picked her.
Lots of people had moves ready and just waiting to fill in the middle bits.
Sounds to me like he plans to run for governor of WV again, and knows the Dem brand is too toxic there, even for him. For the sake of the hill folk of WV, I hope Manchins gambit pays off. The R governors have been bleeding that state dry.
