Kabuki

Pardon me if, in the current atmosphere of false narrative piled on false narrative, I'm just the least bit skeptical of what's going on. We're being told via The Hill:

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) said Democrats should hit "pause" on President Biden’s $3.5 trillion spending package, firing a significant warning shot at his party’s top legislative priority.

Manchin, during remarks this week at a West Virginia Chamber of Commerce event pointed to concerns about “runaway inflation,” the delta variant of the coronavirus and a botched withdrawal in Afghanistan to float slowing down what is the centerpiece of Biden's economic agenda.

. . . "I know they're going to go nuts right now ... because what I said is going to all my caucus in Washington," Manchin added, referring to his Democratic colleagues. "But I'm thinking of it from the standpoint of where we are as a nation today."

He restated these views in, of all places, a Wall Street Journal op-ed. But he already knows "they're going to go nuts right now."

And AOC predictably went nuts:

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York slammed Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia after he came out against the price tag of a $3.5 trillion social spending bill and urged Democrats to slow down its passage.

The congresswoman tweeted that "'bipartisan corruption" and "fossil fuel bills" are "killing people."

But a web search this morning suggests that Speaker Pelosi has had nothong direct to say, and Sen Schumer is vague:

Speaking Thursday from a New York City where hours before rainwater had poured into subway tunnels and paralyzed public transit, Schumer called it “imperative” to pass the infrastructure and climate bills.

That story also says,

Democrats have also appeared to acknowledge they will need to write a bill smaller than $3.5 trillion in order to push it through the Senate. Lawmakers have said they want to hike taxes on corporations and the wealthy and increase IRS enforcement of existing tax rates, among other measures, to offset the spending.

I don't trust anyone. If Manchin were really not with the program, he'd simply switch parties. He's getting far more baksheesh playing the role he's got. That goes for AOC and the Squad as well.