Senator Joe Manchin III (D-WV) has stood alongside Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) as the only two Democrats refusing to fall into lockstep with the Biden-Harris regime’s policies of Democratic-Socialism as outlined in the hyper-partisan “Build Back Better” bill which amounted to little more than a vehicle for wealth redistribution. But now it seems that Manchin is attempting to rebuild a bridge back to the party that has vehemently scorned his efforts at moderation and bipartisanship. In a move that seems to slam the door on any speculation he might switch to the GOP, Manchin has taken aim at the GOP Tax Cuts signed into law by President Trump in 2017. Tax cuts that according to The Hill, confirmably helped the middle class and working Americans the most as reported by the IRS.
They explained,
“Income data published by the IRS clearly show that on average all income brackets benefited substantially from the Republicans’ tax reform law, with the biggest beneficiaries being working and middle-income filers, not the top 1 percent, as so many Democrats have argued. […]
The fact is, Republicans’ 2017 tax reform law did exactly what was promised: It lowered taxes for all income groups, provided the greatest benefits for middle-income households, and spurred economic growth that helped reduce poverty and improve prosperity.”
Joe Manchin Is Still A Democrat
So why is Joe Manchin drawing a crosshair on the most beneficial Tax legislation for working-class Americans in decades? Because in spite of his temporarily aligned interests: he’s just not a conservative, no matter how badly a lot of Republicans want him to be.
“The only reason I even voted to [advance the Build Back Better Act] was to fix the tax [system] so that everybody paid their fair share,” Mr. Manchin said. “The ultra-wealthy, the corporations that weren’t paying anything, everyone should pay their fair share.”
“I knew what they could and could not do. They just never realized it, because they figure surely to God we can move one person. Surely, we can badger and beat one person up,” Manchin said on West Virginia MetroNews,
“Well, guess what? I’m from West Virginia. I’m not from where they’re from, [where] they can just beat the living crap out of people and think they’ll be submissive.”
While Manchin was beating his chest about being an indomitable mountain-man of West Virginia, he let fly the ultimate reasons we won’t see him join the GOP as many have hoped and speculated. In spite of the overwhelming evidence against the leftist notion that corporations and the wealthiest Americans don’t “pay their fair share.”, Manchin still believes it and intends to apply punishing taxes on job-creators that will cripple the economy. He goes on to call this “fair and equitable” echoing more radical members of his party like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) whose ire he has recently drawn.
“We have one chance at this, OK? You have a chance to fix the tax code that makes it fair and equitable,” Manchin said. “So if we all disagree with Republicans’ reconciliation on tax cuts, don’t you think we can sit down and fix a fair and equitable tax code?”
Sen. Manchin is a moderate Democrat, in that he hasn’t bought into the notion of overruling every Republican in the government with a policy of absolutist rule without compromise. But the trouble is, he is still seeking compromise on issues where there can be none, and tearing down the one pillar that is likely keeping the American economy afloat today is not something the GOP can compromise on.
