Mitch McConnell told us exactly how his strategy works: Make government look dysfunctional and get the media to blast the Dem president for failing to secure "unity."
It's working. Three new polls show Biden slipping badly with core Dem groups and indys:
Mitch McConnell's strategy also successfully exploits flawed conventions of political reporting.
McConnell surely chortled with glee during Biden's presser, where Biden was hammered for failing to achieve "unity" while GOP conduct was erased as a factor:
Here Joe Manchin explicitly declares that the filibuster is an affirmative good *precisely because* it allows the minority to prevent the majority from passing laws:
"This has been a long-standing critique of the filibuster, that it allows the minority to block a majority from passing legislation. Manchin essentially acknowledged that.”
Smart comments from Senate expert @jiwallner on what Manchin has revealed here:
“There’s no doubt that McCarthy is a material witness to a possible crime by the former president. His conversation with Trump during the height of the riot could provide direct evidence of Trump’s mindset and scheme.”
@rgoodlaw Did Trump indicate to McCarthy that calling off the rioters was in some way contingent on Republicans doing more to subvert the electoral count?
That is only marginally different from what Trump did reportedly say.
A big deal: The coal miners' union just ratcheted up pressure on Manchin to support BBB. This is a seminal moment: The divergence in interests between workers and mine owners who oppose BBB has been exposed. Manchin must choose one or the other. My latest: washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/…
Really telling:
Mine owners are now attacking the mine workers for supporting BBB. The owners explicitly argue that BBB would transition to clean energy too quickly!
This perfectly shows that BBB is in workers' interests and against owners' interests:
The 1/6 committee may well recommend reform making it even clearer that obstructing the congressional count of electors is a federal crime with stiff penalties.
We should get behind this right now. Here's some new reporting on it:
Dark and unsettling: The 1/6 committee is homing in on whether Trump and his co-conspirators fully understood the attack as an instrumental weapon to help carry out his procedural coup. Seeking Jim Jordan's testimony is key to this. I laid this out here: washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/…
Jim Jordan may be able to shed light on:
*Trump's conduct while the mob attack unfolded -- did Trump indicate he wanted it to continue?
*How Trump and his co-conspirators sought to use fake fraud claims as a deliberate pretext for the procedural coup: