Last week, I wrote an article that asserted that the Democrat civil war was peaking. I’d like to apologize for what I now realize was clickbait. I try my best to have my headlines deliver, no matter how snarky, but reality has slapped me in the face and informed me that the Democrat infighting can, in fact, get worse.
And boy, has it gotten worse over the last few days. Obviously, Joe Manchin has been at the forefront of that, with Bernie Sanders also throwing gasoline on the fire from the other end of things. Yet, it looks like Joe Biden, surprising no one, has been the most destructive force. His ridiculous trip to the Capitol yesterday is now being reported as more disastrous than originally thought.
Because he ran his mouth without knowing what he’s talking about and proclaimed that the infrastructure bill and reconciliation bill will be linked, something Nancy Pelosi had already promised not to do any longer, the moderates that Biden needs to pass his agenda are now furious.
Does that sound like a party that’s about to come together to give Biden what he wants? Or does it sound like the president is a bumbling old man who thought he was going to charm people on Capitol Hill and only ended up blowing up what little progress had been made? The agreement to not link the bills was the bare minimum, and now that’s gone. You are not going to get Joe Manchin’s support, nor the moderates in the House, if the bills are linked. Manchin has been absolutely clear on that. Yet, Biden has been out of it for much of these negotiations and apparently had no idea what had even been agreed to.
And as if that wasn’t going full “Leroy Jenkins,” Biden’s Chief of Staff, Ronald Klain, is now lobbying to undercut Pelosi directly.
While I’m always a skeptic when it comes to the government actually doing the right thing, which in this case would be not spending $3.5 trillion on broad entitlements that aren’t needed, I’m not seeing how the two sides get together here. Pelosi is already having a hard enough time rallying the moderates by herself. Now, she has Biden and his White House actively rallying progressives to keep obstructing when they themselves have no leverage to speak of. It’s a recipe for nothing passing at all.
And that’s great if you are a Republican, but it’s still worth noting just how ineffective and impotent Joe Biden is. This is a man who has no sense of his own ability or lack thereof. He truly believes he’s above it all, able to show up at Congress, say “c’mon man” a few times, and have his agenda rubber-stamped. But he’s learning quickly, to the extent he can process what’s even happening, that he has no mandate. I couldn’t think of a better way to start the fall season.