Member-only story
It was a hard-fought and, as a result, very sweet victory yesterday over Joe Manchin, coal baron, fossil fuel profiteer and sick, unapologetic corporatist. It was a huge victory against powerful enemies of the planet and its people.
The fact that it was ultimately sunk by the Republicans after about 85 House and Senate Democrats, under strong grassroots pressure from hundreds and hundreds of groups, came out publicly against it is a sign of how isolated and defeated Manchin is, right now. He’ll make every effort to make a comeback, and he can’t be counted out, but right now he’s down on the mat.
Our job is to make it very difficult for him and the fossil fuel industry he represents to recover from this defeat. He’s already made it clear in his defeat statement that he intends to keep at it. Of course he’d say that, what else is he going to say? On his deathbed he’ll probably say, I am so proud of my efforts to keep the fossil fuel industry alive. He is exhibit number one of what the term “climate criminal” means.
How do we keep the fossil fuelers as down as we can keep them? Most immediately, those of us who fought this two-month fight against the Manchin dirty side deal should be doing as much as we can to defeat Republicans running for the Senate. If the Dems have at least 52 Senators, Manchin’s (and Sinema’s) power will be lessened big-time.
And we should do the same as far as the House. Our consciously multi-racial people’s movement is in a better position to…
