Here’s how to unite behind Chuck Schumer and win the voting rights legislation battle in the Senate
Chuck Schumer says he’s bringing voting rights legislation to the Senate floor this month. He clearly thinks there’s a realistic chance to push Manchin and Sinema to cave. Now is the time for us to get behind Schumer and make this happen. If anyone isn’t interested in joining this fight, it means they’re just here to whine and lose. I’d rather win.
So what do we do to win this? For starters, now is the time to get strongly behind Chuck Schumer. It doesn’t matter what you think of him. He’s our guy. He’s not going to be replaced midstream, no matter how many misguided pundits might yell around for such nonsense. And in spite of all the whining about him, Schumer is actually pretty savvy. His best attribute is that he usually goes along with Pelosi’s strategies, which is ideal because Pelosi has a once in a generation mind for this stuff. So now is the time to take our cues from Schumer.
Keep in mind that 95% of politics takes place behind closed doors, and that most of what politicians say publicly is just posturing. So whatever Manchin and Sinema might be publicly saying their position is on any given day, it’s not particularly relevant. You certainly don’t take a distasteful politician like Manchin or Sinema at their word; those are the ones who are least likely to be honest when they speak.
So even as Schumer and other Senate Democrats hammer away at Manchin and Sinema behind the scenes, our job is to hammer away at them publicly. This does not mean you whine and complain about how they’ll “never cave no matter what.” That kind of talk only makes things worse, because you’re letting them off the hook if you’re telling them you’re not going to try to push them to cave.
Instead, you’ll want to make clear to Manchin and Sinema that if they want one red cent of your political donations, they’ll cave on voting rights legislation. Tell them that if they want you to stop clogging their phone lines and their email inboxes, they’ll cave. Tell them that if they want to go into reelection without a primary challenge, they’ll cave. To be clear, the point is not to start looking for some primary challenger. That’s down the road, and at present would be a waste of time. For now, the only goal is to make these kinds of threats in order to pressure them into caving.
Manchin and Sinema aren’t good people, but they’re not mustache twirling cartoon villains looking to cause random mischief for kicks. They each only care about getting reelected, because if they lose that, then it’s all over for them. No more money, power, or influence. So your job is to make them realize that they’ll lose more by defying your will than by caving to your will.
Yes, there’s reportedly Koch money involved on the other side. But so what? The Kochs – one of whom is now deceased – aren’t nearly as influential as they used to be. No one in politics, on either side, ever has a magic wand. No one ever automatically wins a battle. It always comes down to who has the most leverage and who can apply it.
Our job is to make Manchin and Sinema realize that their best shot at surviving this politically is if they cave to our demands and end up coming out swinging for our side. Yes, it’s possible. Remember when Susan Collins was increasingly anti-Kavanaugh throughout the entire process, and then in the end she suddenly became loudly pro-Kavanaugh? Manchin and Sinema are the Susan Collins of the Democrats. They’re opportunists. They’re trying to play both sides. Our job isn’t to judge them (spoiler alert: they suck). Our job is to use leverage to bend them to our will.
Even as Chuck Schumer and the Democrats privately apply all the leverage they have, we need to publicly apply all the leverage that we have. If you want to win this battle, then stop whining about Schumer, and start helping him. Anything else is defeatist madness. We worked hard to oust Trump. But the reward for hard work is usually more hard work. Now is the time to work hard to win the voting rights legislation battle.
