Politics - News Analysis

Manchin and Sinema About to Become the Two Least Relevant Senators in DC

We aren’t counting our chickens before they become nuggets because we are keenly aware of the fact that Ralph Warnock has not beaten Herschel Walker yet, but if Herschel Walker were to somehow defeat Warnock, it would be a sign of the end times, at which case, blast through the credit cards, fly off to one of the remote islands in Tahiti, where you’ll be one of the last collected (Bring a friend and make it count).

Given that Warner will almost surely win, Newsweek wrote an article about a couple that may wish for the end times if Warnock wins because both of them will be rendered rather impotent, given that it’s unlikely there’ll ever be an issue where both their corporate concerns collide.

Both notably denied Democrats’ efforts to overturn Republicans’ blockade of their party’s sweeping reforms to the country’s election laws, drawing scorn from their president and their party.

Manchin used his vote to strong-arm both into concessions for a natural gas pipeline in his home state in a massive domestic spending bill earlier this year (he later pulled that bill under bipartisan pressure) and has had a prolonged flirtation with the Republican Party, going as far as attending events with Republican donors in red states like Texas.

Manchin is at least as likely to run as a Republican in West Virginia in 2024 as he is a Democrat. Expect the “I didn’t leave the Democratic party. It left me…” It would not be true. It would be that West Virginia left the Democratic party and voted to lower rich people’s taxes and give up more freedoms. Now they’ll want to do it again.

And Sinema, labeled by Time magazine in one article as ‘Republicans’ Favorite Democrat,’ has used her position in the middle to cut deals across the aisle as well as within her own party, which regularly found itself at the negotiating table with her to broker legislation that could get to 50 votes.”

We have NO idea who Sinema believes her constituents to be. The Arizona Republican party is headed up by Kari Lake. Do you think Lake would say, “I support that Sinema has remained independent and…” Hell no. Lake wants a Blake Masters-type in that seat. As for Democrats, they just overwhelmingly elected Mark Kelly by over five points (In a state where the Gov. race was one point, over the same Blake Masters.

There is no “Middle” in Arizona, except for Sinema, which is a recipe for losing her next election in 2024.

“Manchin, one of Congress’ most conservative Democrats, still votes with President Joe Biden’s position 89 percent of the time, according to FiveThirtyEight; Sinema votes the party line 95 percent of the time, And beyond the recent spending packages, both senators have unique priorities and their own agendas, rarely voting as a bloc. If the pair do find themselves in a situation where they can throw their weight around, it will be a challenge. Especially with one more vote to contend with.”

And thus, when their own “unique” priority comes up, Sinema will see Manchin and Warnock on the other side (along with Fetterman, the one who flipped a seat), and when Manchin sees his unique issue come up, the same thing with Sinema and Warnock. In other words, they’ll have utterly lost all their power as individuals and will need to be part of a group. They will need to horse trade like everyone else instead of standing in the middle of the room yelling, “Me, me, me…”

Couldn’t happen to a better group.

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[email protected], @JasonMiciak, with Nicole Hickman

meet the author

Jason Miciak is a political writer, features writer, author, and attorney. He is originally from Canada but grew up in the Pacific Northwest. He now enjoys life as a single dad raising a ridiculously-loved young girl on the beaches of the Gulf Coast. He is very much the dreamy mystic, a day without learning is a day not lived. He is passionate about his flower pots and studies philosophical science, religion, and non-mathematical principles of theoretical physics. Dogs, pizza, and love are proof that God exists. "Above all else, love one another."

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