Political Theatrics 101
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me 5,034 times, shame on me.
Like many of you, I awoke on Sunday to the news that West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin had seemingly torpedoed Joe Biden's signature piece of legislation by declaring that he could not support the current Build Back Better bill during a morning segment on Fox News. Manchin's announcement sent shockwaves through the political world and the Beltway Media was more than happy to jump for joy by being able to have one final 2021 example of "Democrats in Disarray" just in time for the holidays. On the political end, White House press secretary Jen Psaki released a scathing statement calling Manchin's rejection of the Build Back Better Act as an "inexplicable reversal" of his previous engagements with the administration. The Russian Left also chimed in with both Bernie Sanders and Ilhan Omar publicly venting at Manchin's latest stance. Meanwhile political twitter was seethed in hatred for Manchin whom they saw as being a figure worse than Judas for what he had done to President Joe Biden. As for myself, I can only think of one thing to say to the Senator from West Virginia:
Joe, you sly dog, you!
No, I'm not a closeted Republican. But what I am is aware of how the game in Washington is played. Joe Manchin is not the president as Charlemagne implied to Kamala Harris on his radio program this week. Nor is he a kingmaker. What he is, is a lifelong politician who didn't become a Democratic senator in a Trump +39 state without being able to play the villain when that role needed to be played. It is not simply about power (although that is part of it, to be sure) but instead is about the perception that Manchin is bucking the system for the good of the people. Sometimes, that involves a subtle jab at Democrats. Sometimes that involves taking up Republican talking points. And sometimes, like today, that involves throwing a massive wrench into the system and seemingly blowing up a deal and becoming universally despised for doing so.
We often talk about Republicans playing roles. And they unquestionably do. Folks like Ted Cruz act dumber than they are because they know the country bumpkin' persona resonates with their uneducated base. Marjorie Taylor Greene starts shit for no reason because she knows her constituents elected her to "raise hell in Washington." It's an act, plain and simple. Yet, for some reason we assume that it's only Republicans in on the act. Maybe that's because we as Democrats trust that our side consists of honest, decent people of integrity. For the most part it does. But we cannot in good conscience assume that we don't have a handful of actors on our side, those who are willing to play a role to keep themselves in power as well. The difference is that when Democrats do it, it's so out of the ordinary, that is really hits home and it seemingly hurts to admit that there exists those on our side who are also playing the game. The issue is that with such a razor-thin majority in the House and Senate, these few actors have a disproportionate amount of power whereas the cuckoo bananas Republicans have so many actors that it's simply par for the course for them at this point in time.
Joe Manchin is playing a role, people. It's a shitty fucking role to be sure. But it is a role. He knows he can't get reelected as a Democrat, even in West Virginia, by torpedoing President Biden's signature piece of legislation. But he also knows that he is nearly twice as popular as Biden in his home state. This gives him the leeway to echo Republican talking points for how and why he is against the bill. It allows him to lie about the bill being paid for. It allows him to express non-serious concerns about the bill adding to inflation and the national debt. And it allows him for the opportunity to seemingly walk away from the bill as he did this morning taking the high road and fighting for the good people of West Virginia against big government overreach.
So, what happens next?
To answer this, you have to think like a script writer. We have a villain, but that villain needs to eventually get back in the good graces of the good guys. How does he do that?
To begin with, Joe Manchin has made public his concerns, however misleading they might be. He has essentially created a road map to "win him over" and, in turn, has created a way for the Biden Administration to get him to a yes vote on Build Back Better. That includes messaging on the debt, on inflation, and on ways in which the bill will help every day West Virginians. We know these facts. But the 69% of West Virginians who voted for Donald Trump need to hear them in a way that doesn't turn them away from supporting their Democratic senator. It's the ultimate balancing act but it is one that Manchin both wants and needs to have done in order to maintain his position. What Manchin is demanding is a way to make Build Back Better more palatable to the Trump supporters of his state and what he is saying is that the Biden Administration has failed at doing that thus far. Manchin is asking, dare I say begging for a way to make his yes vote acceptable to his constituents.
Doing this won't be easy. But it is possible. What's needed from all of us is our participation as we too, have roles of fill. And our role is that of concerned citizen, a role we were literally born to play. To get Joe Manchin to a place where he can finally be "won over" we need to be calling/emailing his office daily. We need to have anyone we know in West Virginia calling/emailing his office daily. We need to find Facebook and Twitter groups in West Virginia and ask that they call/email his office daily. The pressure needs to be so overwhelming to Joe Manchin that he risks losing support in West Virginia if he doesn't vote for Build Back Better rather than the other way around. Manchin's recent "outburst" is his way of saying that there hasn't been enough public pressure on him to justify supporting the bill and that doing so today would hurt him more than it would help him.
This is all a lot to take in. It's frustrating as fuck, I get it. But it's where we are. Despite how you might feel about him right now, there can be no denying that Joe Manchin is a helluva politician. You don't get elected as a Democratic senator is the second reddest state without some political skill. And you don't keep winning statewide offices for over 30 years without pissing off some people in your own political party. This isn't the first time Joe Manchin has seemingly gone "rogue." It certainly won't be the last. But knowing how he operates is to know that he sometimes needs cover to vote the right away. Sometimes, he needs to be the bad guy to lock up his support back home. What we saw on Sunday is simply the latest iteration of Joe Manchin seemingly bucking his own party to take a principled stand for the good people of West Virginia.
This is not a movie. This is real life. But real life has those who play roles to get things done. The villainous Joe Manchin has now made a stand. Yet Joe Manchin cannot be a villain the entire time. He needs to get back in his party's good graces. He needs to get back into Americans' good graces. And the only way he can do that is to create his own redemption arc. And that redemption arc can only be written by us, expressing our outrage, and rallying every single West Virginia voter to our side.
So take heed these next few weeks. This is the part of the film when you see the villain do something completely dastardly simply to reiterate his cruel nature. Joe Manchin has done that. But now is the time to start his ascension after having seemingly reached a new low point. Joe Manchin needs us for that part. He needs us to overwhelm his office with calls and emails. He needs us to get our West Virginia brothers and sisters to up their game. He needs us to write op-ed's in our local papers stressing the importance of the Build Back Better bill. He needs us posting on social media. In short, what he needs is for us to be the heroes so that he can slowly, methodically get back in to all our good graces. Because if at the end of the day, when Joe Manchin does vote yes on the Build Back Better bill, it will be due to the fact that it is now much more advantageous for him to vote for it than to vote against it. That, and that alone, will allow him to take on the role of changed man, one who took a principled stand for his values and one who eventually worked through all the noise to deliver for the people.
The role that Joe Manchin intended to play this entire time.