After Donald Trump was singularly responsible for his always
backward-looking party losing control of the United States Senate on January 5, it took only a few nanoseconds for progressive Democrats such as associate solitary reporter Lewis Thompson III to realize that Maine’s Republican senator, Susan Collins, and senator Joe Manchin, supposedly a Democrat representing West Virginia, would hold the balance of power in the 50-50 Senate.
Joe Manchin is solely responsible for the forced withdrawal of Neera Tanden, President Biden’s extremely capable nominee to head the Office of Management and Budget. As he tubed Neera's nomination, Manchin, a Roman Catholic who represents an almost entirely Protestant state in the Bible Belt, was indiscreetly parodying the Protestant hymn, “Neera My God to Thee”
Manchin is a very astute politician, which means that he has attended numerous services in Protestant churches.
Manchin is the most conservative, by far, Democrat serving in the Senate. He’s recently been very much a thorn in the side of his fella Dems. It is difficult to convey how extremely frustrated Senate Majority (!) Leader Chuck Schumer is over Manchin’s recent antics (https://www.politico.com/news/2021/03/05/manchin-biden-covid-aid-plan-473963).
Our DC-based associate solitary reporter, Keith Coleman, was one of hundreds of reporters who relentlessly followed Manchin in the Halls of Congress yesterday and today. Manchin has also tubed the badly needed $15 minimum wage.
Coleman was the only media guy in the Halls who heard Manchin singing “Neera My God to Thee,” based on the hymn “Nearer My God to Thee,” written by Unitarian hymnist Sarah Flower Adams at her home in Essex, England, in 1841. It was first set to music by Adams’ sister, the composer Eliza Flower (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nearer,_My_God,_to_Thee).
Coleman was also the only reporter who distinctly heard Manchin say, even though sotto voce, that he’s on the verge of establishing his own political party, The Manchinisto Party. The primary principles of the Manchinisto Party consist largely of whatever Manchin wants to do to disrupt the largely progressive mission of the Democratic Party. See https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/04/politics/vote-a-rama-covid-19-relief/index.html.