Don't Primary Joe Manchin. Elect Enough Democratic Senators That No One Has to Care About Him.

I have now passed over the International Just Fcking Bite Me line with Joe Manchin. Over the weekend, there was great enthusiasm behind the idea of using Senator Professor Warren’s framework for a wealth tax as a means of financing what remains of the “human infrastructure” half of the Just Crazy Enough to Work double-track infrastructure strategy. There was a brief glimmer of hope that this might just be a backdoor way to bring some sort of equity to an economic system dedicated in one way or another to shoving the country’s wealth upward for going on 40 years now. Subsidized childcare and a move toward actual progressive taxation? Unpossible!

And then, of course, the senior senator from West Virginia, a state that depends on federal assistance even more than Mississippi does, had to weigh in. From the New York Times:

The billionaires tax, officially unveiled early Wednesday morning, may have died before the ink was dry on its 107-page text. Mr. Manchin, speaking with reporters, said, “I don’t like the connotation that we’re targeting different people.” People, he added, that “contributed to society” and “create a lot of jobs and invest a lot of money and give a lot to philanthropic pursuits..It’s time that we all pull together and row together,” he said.

Seriously, he’s worried that applying a capital gains tax on anyone with more than $1 billion in assets or more than $100 million in income for three consecutive years, a tax that would apply to 700 Americans, would be so divisive that it’s not even worth trying. I don’t minimize the constitutional hurdles standing in the way of the proposal, let alone the political peril of asking politicians in the year 2021 to inconvenience their donors. But a wealth tax remains staunchly popular with a majority of Americans. So one is forced to conclude that Manchin has deeper reasons to oppose it as quickly as he did.

And all of the evidence by midday is that he’s getting what he wants. From Politico:

What's more, Manchin continued to throw cold water on health care and paid leave proposals, citing the debt and deficit as reason enough to hold the line on creating new spending programs. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said that "it's not looking good" for paid leave. “I am truly, absolutely concerned about the deficit of our country. almost $29 trillion. I'm concerned about the insolvency of the trust funds. In good conscience, I have a hard time increasing, basically, benefits,” Manchin said. “I've been very clear. To expand social programs, when you have trust funds that aren't solvent ... can't explain that. It doesn't make sense to me.”

Democrats are more confident about climate subsidies and universal pre-K making it into in the package, along with an extension of the Child Tax Credit. But it all comes down to where Manchin and Sinema fall — and whether the rest of the party’s thin majorities go along with Biden's dealmaking. Chairmen of the Senate's climate-related committees will meet again on Wednesday afternoon, according to Democratic sources.

The solution is not to primary Manchin. The solution—and it’s the only one of which I can conceive—is to elect enough Democrats to the Senate so that nobody ever has to care what Joe Manchin thinks about anything ever again. Then maybe the rest of the Senate can do something about the daunting conditions in West Virginia, because he clearly doesn’t give a damn.

Charles P. Pierce Charles P Pierce is the author of four books, most recently Idiot America, and has been a working journalist since 1976.

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