What’s the line from Hamilton? “History has its eyes on you”? Yes, well, Joe Manchin certainly knows that history has its eyes on him, and this undeniable fact hasn’t seemed to move him. Indeed, there’s really only one reason Manchin won’t move, and Sinema won’t move, while other moderate state people like John Tester and others are already there. Money, and more specifically, where it comes from.

Word around the campfire is that Sinema’s comes from big pharma. Maybe, maybe not. We do know that she’s got an ego (and no, we’re not being misogynistic about this because her ego isn’t as big as Manchin’s, who has been there longer, and not in the same stratosphere as Ted Cruz) and she’s got a lot of money coming in.

Someone very smart (think Koch brothers) looked at that 50-50 “majority” and decided they really only needed one “flaky” one to negate the entire majority. Whomever it was, perhaps a group, picked these two Democrats as the most susceptible to undoing that 50-50 tie and make it actually 51-49. There are ways to get it done, with Democrats anyway. It doesn’t go the other way or we’d be begging Romney or Murkowski for their vote on “Voting.”

It will get worse for Manchin, much much much worse, because McConnell is changing the filibuster the second he becomes Majority Leader again. McConnell already did it with SCOTUS judges, we’re not sure who Manchin and Sinema think they’re kidding when they say they’re not changing them without Republicans signing on.

The Republicans will do it without them signing on, and then Manchin will have to live with himself.

Republicans wouldn’t agree to investigate January 6th!! Joe Manchin is under the impression that Republicans are interested in compromise or working together or…

NO, not at all. Rob Reiner has it figured out, at least with respect to history:

If and when our Democracy dies, there will be plenty of blame to go around. At the top of the list will be Donald Trump and his desperate White Supremacist Republican Party. But right below that will be Joe Manchin and his tie to coal money

The only thing that is – perhaps wrong – about that statement is separating Manchin from the racist Republicans. If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck…

If and when our Democracy dies, there will be plenty of blame to go around. At the top of the list will be Donald Trump and his desperate White Supremacist Republican Party. But right below that will be Joe Manchin and his tie to coal money.

— Rob Reiner (@robreiner) January 12, 2022

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Jason Miciak & Nicole Hickman