 By the time most of you see this video I'm guessing that Kirsten Sinema and Joe Manchin will have already killed voting rights legislation for a second time this month now They'll kill voting rights legislation, but simultaneously maintain that they definitely support voting rights legislation Is that so well? Let's let's see the way that Democrats tried to actually get them to go along with voting rights While maintaining the filibuster as much as possible So Democratic Party officials proposed meeting them halfway by specifically carving out an exception to the filibuster keeping it intact But just carving out an exception when it comes to voting rights Manchin and Sinema both rejected that So then Democratic Party leadership proposed keeping the filibuster entirely and letting Republicans block legislation But the catch is it returns to which are to its original form where you actually have to talk if you want to obstruct the Legislation guess what Manchin and Sinema objected to that as well, but yet they support voting rights legislation It's comical now to pour salt in the wounds Joe Manchin knows that he's aggravating people and he literally went out of his way to Taunt people who are angry with his unwillingness to support voting rights legislation He says I've been primaried my entire life. That would not be anything new for me Bring it on Manchin told reporters asked about some of his colleagues not ruling out supporting a primary opponent Quote the majority of my colleagues in the Democratic caucus have changed their minds. I respect that they have a right to change their minds I haven't I hope they respect that too. I've never changed my mind on the filibuster Manchin told reporters now first and foremost He's lying because on his own website he stated that he supports changing the filibuster sooner rather than later and Second of all for him to essentially taunt people by saying you know that there's nothing you can do You can try to primary me bring it on but you know I'm gonna win that and you know that I don't care because if I am successfully primaried I'll just go become a lobbyist He knows that there is nothing you can do and he's throwing that in your face. It's just truly Despicable and let me remind you that we're not even talking about getting rid of the filibuster We're just talking about reverting it back to its original form So he's getting what he wants technically but still he does not support that he doesn't support the talking filibuster But here's what he says about that Manchin told reporters that I love a talking filibuster But reiterated that he wouldn't support getting rid of the supermajority Requirements so he refuses to even entertain the idea of modifying the filibuster or reverting it back to its original form where you had to talk to obstruct the legislation it's truly absurd and Simultaneously, he's taunting people saying go ahead primary me. I dare you We'll see how that turns out either way. I win It's truly ridiculous and just to really show you how unreasonable he's being Amy Klobuchar of all people made a really solid point about the history of the filibuster and how it's been changed throughout time To make exceptions for certain pieces of legislation Here are some examples of how the cloture rule has changed over time in 1949 cloture was extended to cover all issues pending before the Senate not just bills in 1975 the vote threshold for cloture was reduced to three-fifth of all senators in 1979 total post cloture debate was limited to 100 hours And then it was limited again to 30 hours in 1986 and in the past decade the cloture rule has been further reduced for various kinds of nominees most recently By our Republican colleagues across the aisle. This isn't something from a hundred years ago This isn't something from before we had cars and people arriving here on horseback This just happened in addition to changes to the cloture rule itself The Senate has put in place exceptions to the rule in fact over time the Senate has established over 160 Processes in statute that allow a final vote with without requiring 60 votes for cloture to end debate in other words You get to a vote without the 60 votes as a result We have expedited preset procedures including get this Reconciliation to spend to pass spending and tax legislation the Congressional Review Act to block regulations Disapproval of arms sales, I guess someone decided that was okay to do for less than 60 votes Even approving compensation plans for commercial space accidents doesn't require 60 votes my friends, but while the 60 vote threshold was carved up 160 times so senators could pass things like tax cuts under President Trump block regulations and confirm supreme court Justices when it comes to voting rights We are told that traditions and comedy means that we should hug it tight this old rule Throw voters under the Senate desk and go home, and I hate to say it, but Amy Klobuchar is right Almost threw up saying that and look if somebody as milk toast and corporatist as Amy Klobuchar can make another Democrat Look unreasonable, then you know that that Democrat Joe Manchin is out of line. So he's not gonna much He's made that abundantly clear. He's not going to allow voting rights to pass period end of story It's not really about the filibuster. It is about voting rights. He supports voter suppression He supports the demise of democracy because Joe Manchin is not a Democrat Joe Manchin is a Republican He is as extreme as the voter suppression Republicans in states like Georgia He is as extreme as Mitch McConnell, but the only difference is that he has a D in front of his name So what do we do now? Well now it is incumbent on Joe Biden and Democratic Party leadership to break Joe Manchin And there is a plethora of things that they can do a plethora of different tools They can use to exert pressure on him as Nina Turner pointed out on Twitter Why is Joe Manchin still the chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee time to stop playing games with these folks? Take his power Exactly disempower him because he's in that position which is beneficial to his corporate donors It's nice that he has this role. So if you take away his power Then what's that gonna do? That is going to threaten his position that is going to at least make him acknowledge that this is serious And maybe I should reconsider But you can do other things as Walker Braggman suggests take Manchin into a back room Tell him federal investigators are going to look into his daughter's price fixing Tell him the military bases are moving out of West Virginia. Tell him he's off his committees or he can play ball So there's also that or maybe Joe Biden uses his bully pulpit to exert pressure on Joe Manchin By calling on everyone throughout the country to protest in front of his offices and do not leave until Manchin supports voting rights There's that and also on top of that Maybe Biden tells Joe Manchin that he's gonna re-examine the position that he gave to Joe Manchin's wife Gail Maybe he finds someone else for that job. Maybe he fires her Maybe we have Amy Klobuchar literally throw a fucking stapler at his face. I don't know I'm not advocating for violence, but that's what Amy Klobuchar has been known to do or a binder something I mean, there are different things that you can do to exert pressure on Joe Manchin now I Acknowledge that none of these strategies are guaranteed to work But the point is that now we know where Manchin stands unquestionably. He's not going to budge He is an obstacle to voting rights So now the onus is on Joe Biden the president of the United States to push to exert pressure No signaling that you're going to roll over and die no saying I don't know if we can get this done No, you are the president of the United States You will reassure people that you are going to get this done because not getting voting rights accomplished is not an option Because if we don't get this done democracy in the United States erodes even further and it's already hanging on by a threat So now it's on Joe Biden Actually fight actually step up and meet this moment and at a minimum accomplish voting rights But Joe Biden doesn't want to fight. He's kind of just given up I mean, there are things that he can do outside of voting rights to really improve the lives of the American people Joe Manchin and Kirsten Sonoma aren't keeping Joe Biden from cancelling student debt He can do that with a stroke of the pen But Joe Biden is choosing not to do that because he doesn't support it So really I think that more pressure has to be exerted on Joe Biden to then exert pressure on Joe Manchin But I think that Joe Biden likes that mansion in cinema are kind of his scapegoats Perhaps he doesn't feel as strongly about voting rights as he says he does I have no way of proving this but his actions indicate that he's not taking this seriously So there are a plethora of things that you can do a number of ways that you can exert pressure on Joe Manchin and Kirsten Sonoma If this doesn't get accomplished then at the end of the day. Yes, we blame Manchin and Sonoma But we also and more importantly mostly blame Joe Biden for not putting up a fight when it comes to one of the most important issues facing the American public democracy itself