Mitch McConnell was seen early Wednesday on horseback with a torch tossing it on the White House lawn as a message to Trump for destroying the GOPs majority.
As another poster mentioned, he voted with Trump over 50% of the time. Also, it isn't uncommon for politicians to flip flop or even change parties. Would it surprise anybody if he pulled a Justice and switched parties? Exactly my point. Is he going to push through or stop some of the things many of the Dems want to see or is he going push through or stop what will get him reelected? You're saying he has to do the former which was the basis of my original post. I'm not blaming him for anything but his potential. He can screw up votes for the Dems, as noted he voted with Trump most of the time, and then it becomes good for his reelection but fodder in which the Republicans can use to say they didn't deliver on certain promises. He can then use it to say he didn't align Dem values. Not that hard to get. All the other red state Dems didn't lose all though they're in states much more friendlier to Democrats now.
This black woman single handedly kicked the Trump and the Rs ass this election cycle. Let me shed an endless stream of liberal, socialist tears. So very sad. I don't know how Trump will be able to live with himself!!!
That 50% number is a bit deceptive. All budget bills and all the common bills that have the House support (including Pelosi) are included in that 50%. For example, Feinstein voted with Trump about 25% of the time.
Most votes in Congress have little controversy. That's why you frequently see politicians citing how many bills they passed and most of those are things like naming post offices. Manchin is the last of the Blue Dogs but I strongly doubt he switches parties. Remember he voted to remove Trump on both articles of Impeachment. That should lay aside doubt about what he really thinks about Trump or the GOP. I think it's more likely we see Mitt Romney and/or Lisa Murkowski become independents than Manchin switch. Especially when Democrats are poised to take the Senate.
IIRC Murkowski won her last election as an Independent, after she got primaried and lost. I give it a 40% chance, especially if Trump goes hard after the Senate "RHINOS".
For anyone who gets frustrated with Manchin, I would argue that having him likely made some swing voters, or never Trumpers, feel a bit more comfortable about handing the Senate to the Dems. May not be a huge number, but every vote counts in this election.
I doubt Murkowski or Romney become independents. The last thing Mitch needs is to lose anyone from his caucus. And they are from deep red states - it's not like Maine or Vermont where independents are respected. But I agree I don't think Manchin switches party. He's been a democrat for a very long time and has survived in a deeply red state that went for Trump by a huge margin. He knows what he is doing and isn't Jeff Van Drew.
I agree Manchin won't switch (it's more likely Romney goes independent, but also not likely overall), but Machin becomes super vulnerable now since every vote will likely ride or die with him until at least 2022. I expect him to become even more conservative in the hope of clinging to his seat and claiming plausible deniability with his voters. Granted I think that strategy is dumb and that Manchin is almost certainly toast come 2024 no matter what, so he may as well go out swinging and the Dems should focus on grabbing some other seats and cutting his loose while they have a one-party government. I think Manchin digs his heels in (with likely backing from the DSCC) and the fecklessness of Democratic rule ends up costing the party greatly in 2022 (the house) and 2024 (the presidency and possibly the senate).
I think there will be a 'big money' push to return the GOP to a serious party. For one, the Trumpers already did what they could do for them with the tax cut bill. Second Trumpers influence is certainly waning and supporting them is throwing good money after bad. There is going to be a continuing backlash against Trumpers as the contrast of anti-government sentiments like the kind that got us so badly hurt by Covid and a government that takes affirmative actions to actually help people becomes apparent. And like toddlers after a tantrum a lot of Trumpers are going to get outrage fatigue.
