Thread by @LOLGOP

I can't say for sure what Joe Manchin wants but I'm pretty sure part of it includes people like me and anyone left of Susan Collins yelling at him.

He seems to think that makes him look good for him in West Virginia, and he may be right.

usatoday.com/story/opinion/…

But AG, who is far more thoughtful than most right wingers, insists that I'm just mad a Manchin for having "principles. I gave this some this some thought.

https://twitter.com/AGHamilton29/status/1402251897248047110

What are Manchin's "principles." He says bipartisanship. This requires him to ignore the GOP wave of new voting restrictions across the US. AG argues, like Liz Cheney, these are all appropriate though the justification for them all sound just like Trump's calls for January 6th.

The "principle" Manchin is actually defending is McConnell's perversion of the filibuster, a tradition that goes back to 2007 after the GOP was crushed at the polls.

A best Manchin is defending a perversion of the filibuster from the early 70s when the talking filibuster died.

Of course, the filibuster is a fluke perversion of the Senate itself.
nymag.com/intelligencer/…

And its history of being used to maintain the subjugation of Black Americans is undeniable.
vox.com/policy-and-pol…

AG clarifies and says he was calling out those who are calling Manchin racist for his filibuster stance.

He'd probably include me in that because I think at the least Manchin is upholding white supremacy both in his stance and the way he's defending it.

https://twitter.com/AGHamilton29/status/1403040683443867650

To anyone who has followed the GOP's embrace of voting restrictions following Obama's first win, what's going on is pretty clear.

Making it hard to vote wasn't good enough the GOP to hold power. Now they're focused on using their state power to void results they don't like.

Trump made it pretty clear that this is what he wanted in 2020 and the vast majority of the party is on board with that and probably won't accept anything else.

The result isn't just GOP rule -- they already have that in the courts and Senate.

The GOP's goal now that they're superpowered by Trump's shamelessness is the end of the second Reconstruction to enforce minority rule based almost exclusively on the support of older, white voters.

https://twitter.com/AriBerman/status/1400090345023619075

If you see that, and it isn't hard to see, Manchin's principles -- the preservation of a Senate where a minority that starts each election with a massive headstart gets a instant veto on everything that matters to the other vast majority of Americans -- deserve to be insulted.

But this leads us back to the beginning and the damn paradox we face.

Joe Manchin doesn't mind if we insult his principles. It may be what he's after!

So how do we save democracy while there's still a chance?

Luckily we have a president whose appeal is built in part on his professed ability to win over truculent Republicans. Manchin should be easy, right?

Of course, I screwed up the first tweet in this. Lesson: Never thread.