Chuck Schumer wants to pick a filibuster fight now at the time the Senate Democrats are most vulnerable and don’t even have the votes. Why on earth? I do not understand how the Democrats have gotten so bad at this, but they have. Part of it is, though, is because it is the only hand they have to play.
Let me explain what’s going on.
This is their only hand. They can’t get Build Back Better done yet. Manchin is demanding they pare it back. They don’t have the votes for anything else to overcome the filibuster. Likewise, crime, education, inflation, the economy, and the virus are pulling down Biden’s polling, which directly hurts them. The only thing they can do is try to convince the public that GOP is anti-democracy. It is why tomorrow will be full-blown hysteria over January 6th. They have no cards left to play other than fear and demonization about Republicans. Trying to convince voters the GOP cannot be trusted with democracy is the only thing they have left and if the filibuster fails, they’ll use that as part of the PR campaign.
They need their base angry and mobile. Midterms tend to have lower turn out that presidential elections. If they can let the grievance fester, they hope their base will be pissed off and ready to roll in November. The problem for the Democrats here is twofold. First, they risk their base turning on them in primaries. Second, they risk their base burning out by November and throwing up their hands in frustration. There are already signs that is happening with a disaffected Democratic base already agitating for primarying Biden. Keeping the base angry and giving them no deliverables typically doesn’t work well for a party. See the GOP, whose base decided to burn it all down with Trump.
Schumer is scared of AOC. He does not want a primary from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. He has to be seen as a fighter. Remember, we’re in post-modern times where performance outweighs results. If Schumer gets to be seen as a fighter, even if he gets no deliverables, he is hoping the base decides he is with them enough to stop AOC from running against him in a New York primary.
The bottom line is it won’t work. Voters do not care about the For the People Act or the John Lewis Voting Rights Act. Voters do not really care about January 6th. They do not care about the GOP and Trump. They care that gas is expensive, groceries are expensive, store shelves are empty, and they did better under Trump. Also, Manchin and Sinema are not willing to blow up the filibuster in a 50-50 Senate. They do not have the votes and the theater won’t persuade voters. But it will anger their base and that anger will most likely be directed internally, not at the GOP.
I had a black man named Franklin call my show yesterday. His phone call sums up the very reason the Democrats have no cards left to play other than fear of the GOP.
Franklin absolutely nailed it, Erick. We can make the argument that Democrats not only bought Billy Bob Clintstone's contention that what happened between he and Miss Monica was somehow "not sex", but that the results he achieved somehow immunized him from the consequences of his actions. They even formed an organization to make that point; remember Move On.org? It's a great argument, and one which stands up to the inevitable charges of "whataboutism", since they first framed the terms of the debate; all we're doing is using their standards of Presidential acceptability. And yes, I fully accept the rampant cynicism in the argument, but counter that there's nothing wrong with turning their cynicism back upon them (It's all rather Alinsky like, too).
Having framed the debate on their terms, we can then move on to the substantive arguments about the real issues; crime, the cratering of the Labor Force Participation Rate (4.5 million more people voluntarily left the workforce in November), inflation, the continuing supply chain mess, and the disaster in the making which is the Bidenauts' foreign policy. or lack of same. At that point, the left's constant bleating about the Jan 6, 2021 noninsurrection has no effect except among the True Believers, with whom we'll be stuck anyway.
Franklin further noted that whether or not Donald Trump is a racist (and nothing I have seen even remotely suggests he is), if people were better off than now is all that matters. It's sort of like the letter a general once wrote during my time in the military. In it, he noted that he was powerless to change what is in a person's heart (true), and that while he hoped that hearts would change, he had no means to order that they do so (also true). He then went on to note that he DID have the authority and responsibility to control the consequences of people's ACTING upon what was in their hearts and guaranteed, as he put it, that "the wrath of God" would descend on those twisted souls who dared act on those beliefs, NO exceptions. Thus it is now; we can only hope and pray that the Marxists among us would see that their ideology is antithetical to the American system, and change. But, if they fail to do so, then all we can do is see to it that "the wrath of God" descend on them this November. It's not a perfect situation, but we can never allow the perfect to be the enemy of the good.
I foresee violence as a campaign tactic returning for the midterms.
Here is rewrite of your 3rd paragraph...
... they hope their base will be pissed off and ready to [riot before] November. The problem for the Democrats here is... they risk their [violent] base turning [off voters by] burning [down cities].