Dem
47
GOP
53
It is St. Valentine's Day tomorrow. Democrats really ought to send former senator Joe Manchin a card telling him that he was right and they were wrong and how much they now love him. Manchin, as you may recall, refused to allow Democrats to pack the Supreme Court, something many of them were champing at the bit to do. To pack the Court, they would have first had to abolish the filibuster. To do that, they needed his vote (and that of Kyrsten Sinema, but she was potentially gettable with enough coaxing, pork, and promises to help get her reelected). Unlike Sinema, who was playing games with the Democrats, Manchin really meant it.
If the Democrats had abolished the filibuster, by now the Republicans would surely have passed a bill doubling or tripling the size of the entire federal judiciary, depending on how many judges the Federalist Society could come up with for Donald Trump to nominate and the Senate to ram through. At the moment, half a dozen judges have temporarily blocked Trump, but if the Republicans had their druthers, by June three-quarters or more of the federal judges would be carefully vetted Trump appointees certain to side with him on everything. The only remaining guardrail would have been gone.
And of course, the only weapon the Democrats have now—the filibuster—would have been gone for normal legislation as well. The sky would have been the limit for Republicans. How about bills banning all abortions nationwide while mandating that every K-12 class in America begin with a short reading from the New Testament followed by a 1-minute student-led prayer? Forget about trans people. What about a bill making homosexual acts a felony punishable by stoning to death in public, with the public invited to buy official stones of various sizes for various prices and the money going to local governments? What about mandating gun ownership for all able-bodied males over 18 and a national stand-your-ground law making it legal to shoot anyone trying to enter your house if you thought they were up to no good? How about border guards being instructed to shoot immigrants crossing the Rio Grande, with a $500 bonus for each kill? Imagine a change to the tax laws setting a marginal tax rate of 0% for incomes over $1 million (for the job creators)? Or better yet, one abolishing the federal income tax and estate tax altogether and recouping the income with a 25% sales tax on everything, including food, rent, and college tuition? The list goes on and on. But none of these things will happen on account of Joe Manchin. Surely he ought to get some love for that? (V)