Loyal to a party that no longer exists

Joe Manchin is out of step with his party, but it's the party that moved

Joe Manchin.
(Image credit: Illustrated | Getty Images, iStock, Library of Congress)

Sen. Joe Manchin (W.Va.) isn't giving his fellow Democrats anything to celebrate this Christmas. In a surprise Sunday announcement on Fox News, Manchin effectively killed the most recent version of the Build Back Better proposal.

After weeks of negotiation, his decision struck many Democrats as a betrayal. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki issued a statement questioning whether Manchin's conduct was in good faith. Democrats outside the White House were more scathing. Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) dismissed his concerns as "complete bulls--t."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
Explore More
Samuel Goldman

Samuel Goldman is a national correspondent at TheWeek.com. He is also an associate professor of political science at George Washington University, where he is executive director of the John L. Loeb, Jr. Institute for Religious Freedom and director of the Politics & Values Program. He received his Ph.D. from Harvard and was a postdoctoral fellow in Religion, Ethics, & Politics at Princeton University. His books include God's Country: Christian Zionism in America (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2018) and After Nationalism (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2021). In addition to academic research, Goldman's writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and many other publications.