If Republican leaders are smart, they will start a concerted effort, right now, to entice Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia to leave the Democratic Party.
Manchin may not become a Republican (although he would fit in well as an “independent who caucuses with Republicans”), but he would better represent the values of his West Virginia constituents if he no longer affiliated himself with the increasingly radical-leftist Democrats who run the White House, the Senate, and the U.S. House. As a Republican or as an independent caucusing with Republicans, Manchin could retain a maverick persona while doing both his state and country the favor of forcing policy back to a sensible center.
Even just by making subtle noises about Manchin leaving the Democrats for good, Republicans could increase Manchin’s bargaining power against the left wing of his party. Even the most blinkered lefties might understand that holding a bare Senate majority (with Manchin remaining a Democrat) lets them accomplish more than they would if Manchin renounced his party and let Republican Mitch McConnell again become Senate Majority Leader. Republicans wanting to block the worst of the Biden-Bernie Sanders agenda would want to strengthen Manchin’s hand.
Why, though, would Manchin consider switching? There are many reasons.
Being a GOP-leaning independent would better fit the policy preferences espoused by Manchin and a large majority of West Virginians. There is no room remaining in the national-level Democratic Party for an officeholder who, like Manchin, is functionally pro-life, pro-fossil fuel, and pro-gun. And while Manchin is no true fiscal conservative, he is, unlike the vast majority of his Democratic colleagues in both chambers of Congress, a fiscal realist who recognizes “insanity” when he sees it.
Manchin also is to the right of almost all his Democratic colleagues, and in line with Republicans, in being tougher against crime than self-described “progressives” and in opposing the “woke” Left’s cultural agenda of racial grievance, “cancel culture,” and gender-erasing crusades. Unlike most D.C. Democrats, he also is against a truly radical national takeover of election law, against eliminating the Senate filibuster, and against packing the Supreme Court.
More importantly to Manchin, his constituents, whose thoughts and values he seems to feel deeply in his soul, are strongly against this whole uber-liberal agenda.
Manchin is a patriot deeply frustrated by the partisan divide. For the nation’s sake, he has every reason to switch at least to independent status and away from the party that Bernie Sanders seems to be running from the outside.
The way Congress works now with Democrats (barely) controlling the presidency and both chambers of Congress, Democrats aren’t even including Republicans in major negotiations. Instead, as Manchin has seen in the Left’s fury toward him, Democrats merely negotiate among themselves.
But if Manchin stops affiliating with Democrats, Republicans will control committees and the Senate floor by the narrowest of margins. To get anything done, President Joe Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will be forced to act like reasonable people for a change, negotiating and seeking at least rough consensus with reasonable Republicans. A reestablishment of even a grudging bipartisanship would better serve the country than one-party rule.
Republicans are now quite likely to retake House control (and perhaps Senate control even without Manchin) in 2022. This is just another reason why Manchin would be better positioned to guide national debate and gain consideration for West Virginia interests if the incoming-majority GOP felt grateful to him for stopping the leftist insanity now. Things will be different if they see him as someone who, by omission, allowed the Left to seize control of America.
