Okay, Donald J. Trump still holds the record here—many, many lies before every Christmas during his presidency. But he now has serious competition in Joe Manchin, whose lying to Biden and his fellow Dems in Congress might have a lot more consequences than Il Duce’s in the long run. This old senator from West Virginia, basically a red state (aka Trump state) that most assuredly will be in the Fascist States of America when we quarantine all the sick and crazy red states, was willing to torpedo a bill a majority of Americans want passed. His excuses are just that—big, fat, lame excuses. He might as well join that fascist party, the Good Ole Piranhas.
Forget worries about inflation and denying child care and paid family leave. Manchin’s basic argument has always been that he has to represent his constituents and West Virginia’s interests first—meaning he wants to insure his reelection by continuing to destroy the environment to support the fossil fuel industry. (How many West Virginians suffer from black lung disease and are on Medicaid because they don’t have adequate health care coverage? Or they’re dead. Are you representing them, Joe? Oh, the hypocrisy!)
That argument is specious, of course, and shows old Joe has no moral spine! If a state’s interests are morally reprehensible and wrong, as most red states’ are, a senator has to choose the moral high ground. This is the road not taken by Manchin. He’ll not be winning a “Profiles in Courage” award anytime soon. In fact, he deserves coal in his Christmas stocking (or a whole coal mine?).
It’s interesting and damning where he chose to announce his vote on the human infrastructure bill: Fox News, aka the Trump channel. Appropriate, of course, because his actions are completely Trumpian. He’s a Trump mini-me now and the ventriloquist’s dummy for the far right. His choice to vote no is provincial, racist, fascist, and an insult to all Americans who know the Good Ole Piranhas are out to destroy this country and our wonderful world. He didn’t have the guts to do the right thing. He’s a scurrilous liar and a Democrat in name only (a DINO, which is also an appropriate name for another dinosaur). Manchin should be run out of the Democratic party. The skunk’s stripes are in plain view, and he stinks. ‘Nough said.