 On Monday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer sent a letter to his colleagues in the Senate, notifying them that in the likely event Republicans once again block voting rights legislation when it comes up to a vote on January 17th, he will be forcing both a debate and a likely vote on filibuster reform. Now, spoiler alert, you don't need to wait to see how Republicans are going to operate. They're going to block it. So there's no need to waste time. Just put it up to a vote and try to reform the filibuster force people like Joe Manchin and Kirsten Sinema to get on the record and deny voting rights to Americans across the country. And honestly, like I appreciate the attempt here by Chuck Schumer, but why weren't you doing this months ago? Why are you waiting now until basically the last minute during a midterm year to try to reform the filibuster? Why weren't you talking about putting filibuster reform up to a vote months ago? I just, I mean, again, like, I don't want to say that this is a bad thing that he's doing, because at least he's making an effort. But I think that you already know the way that this is going to play out and knowing how Republicans aren't going to cooperate with you on anything, waiting this long just seems kind of foolish in hindsight. Does it not? Now, it doesn't really matter. You know, Chuck Schumer is trying to huff and puff in order to to scare Republicans into not blocking voting rights reform by making them think that, you know, the filibuster will indeed be reformed and they'll just bypass it. But I mean, that didn't work because Schumer's posturing proved meaningless after Joe Manchin one day later poured cold water on his dream of reforming the filibuster. I mean, I don't know why anyone would have expected otherwise. But the Hills Jordan Corny reports Senator Joe Manchin voiced skepticism on Tuesday over a Democratic push to change the filibuster along party lines, warning that his preference is for any rules changes to be bipartisan, being open to a rules change that would create a nuclear option. It's very, very difficult. It's a heavy lift, Manchin told reporters when asked about using the nuclear option in which Democrats would change the 60 vote legislative filibuster on their own. I'm talking. I'm not agreeing to any of this. I want to talk and see all the options we have open Manchin said, adding that it was his preference that any rule changes have Republican support. Good luck, buddy. You know, we're still having ongoing conversations as far as voting because I think the bedrock of democracy is making sure that you're able to cast a vote. Manchin said, let's just see. Conversations are still going. Yeah. You know, no filibuster reform, at least that's functionally what he's saying here, but yet I really care about democracy. Well, unfortunately for you, buddy, you've got to make a decision here. You can choose to keep the filibuster or you can choose to keep democracy. If you don't get voting rights legislation passed before the 2022 midterms, you're done. So, and it's not just that the Democratic Party is getting wiped out due to voter suppression, but democracy itself will be further eroded. What's left of our democracy will be compromised further by an authoritarian, explicitly anti-democracy party in the GOP. So you can't have your cake, it's democracy or the filibuster and Manchin here is signaling that he's siding with the filibuster. Some Senate rule, that's a relic of the Jim Crow era. I mean, his priorities are asked backwards, but honestly, you know, it's really easy to be mad at Joe Manchin and you should be mad at Manchin, but the buck stops with Joe Biden. Joe Biden is the President of the United States. He has his bully pulpit and how often have we seen him use it when it comes to exerting pressure on people like Joe Manchin, Kirsten Sonoma, saboteurs in his own party blocking his agenda. Almost never. So, at some point, you've got to stop blaming Manchin and you have to place blame on Joe Biden because Joe Manchin's behavior is predictable. He loves the spotlight. He loves being the Democratic Party equivalent to Susan Collins. He loves all of this, but what would get him to stop or at least possibly reconsider is the President of the United States doing anything. I mean, just trying to exert a minimal amount of pressure and others have made this point, but I think it's worth restating. You know, Kyle Kalinsky, David Dole, they've talked about how you can use your AG to go after Joe Biden's daughter for corruption with regard to the price fixing scheme regarding EpiPens, but he's not doing that. In fact, he gave Joe Manchin's wife a job, threatened to fire her. Like it's dirty, but when so much is at stake, climate change, U.S. democracy, I think that you kind of have to fight with fire. At least fight fire with fire, but Joe Biden isn't even bringing a knife to a gunfight. He's cowering in fear to members of his own party and running away. And at some point, you've got a question. Is it just incompetence or is it that Joe Biden doesn't actually believe in the agenda that he ran on? Does he feel really comfortable and happy about the fact that Joe Manchin is perpetually going to be his fall guy? I don't know, but this is why people like myself on this channel, if you go back in 2019, 2020, we were pushing for someone like Bernie Sanders against Joe Biden because Bernie Sanders actually cared what Bernie Sanders couldn't accomplish. He'd at least use his executive powers to push. You know, Joe Biden is doing fuck all when it comes to student debt relief. Joe Biden isn't fighting members of his own party that's obstructing his own agenda and any president in theory should not like that. I mean, do you remember during the Trump years when any Republican would fall out of line? Trump would rip them on Twitter. Trump would never stop criticizing them. The president sets the agenda. So yes, I blame Joe Manchin. I blame Chuck Schumer for failing to be a good leader in the Senate because, I mean, for years, Chuck Schumer has basically had a pretty loz-eye-fair approach to leadership. Just let your members do what they want to. You know, if they come from a purple or red state, let them just be functionally Republicans. That's fine. But now, all of a sudden, he's trying to be a leader and you kind of set the tone and they don't respect you as a leader. They don't listen to you and that's why a day after you make a threat to Republicans, you know, you have someone like Joe Manchin shooting that down. You have no authority. They don't respect you. So the one thing that can make a difference is the president. But Biden isn't acting and it's maybe because he's weak. Maybe he's incompetent. But also, this is his decision. It's by choice. He's letting people like Joe Manchin and Kirsten Sonoma set the agenda in his party, which is to do nothing and get wiped out at the end of the year. So, you know, again, not to sound like a broken record, Manchin is at fault here and we should be mad at him for this. But at some point, when is Joe Biden going to corral members of his own party and get something done before they get obliterated, before his approval rating tanks even further? I don't know. Maybe he's a fucking masochist and he likes this. Either way, you know, the buck stops with Biden and he's letting Manchin get away with this.