Build Back Better

Could a helping hand from a considerate royal help Nancy Pelosi in her time of need? Right now the House Speaker is stressed. Can you blame her? The $3.5 trillion spending boondoggle, which the left claims we need desperately in order to save our doomed planet and also fund their pet projects, is still gridlocked. Thanks to Pelosi’s skills as a “master legislator,” this monstrosity of a spending bill is tied to the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill. At one point Nancy tried to back off her all-or-nothing posturing, but it was too late. The far-left Squad had already started parroting her “in tandem” talking points. On top of all of this, Pelosi’s subjects in the mainstream media have become unruly lately.

Are progressives serious about winning over Joe Manchin? If so, they’ve got a funny way of showing it. The Democratic senator from West Virginia is one of the main obstacles preventing Joe Biden’s Build Back Better Act from passing through budget reconciliation. Manchin has a problem with the bill’s $3.5 trillion price-tag and is pushing for a smaller total, citing disdain for needless government wastage. He took a similar approach earlier this year to the Biden infrastructure package, negotiating a bipartisan deal with his moderate Republican colleagues. That’s Joe Manchin: your archetypal politicker who believes legislation is best passed through compromise. American progressives, however, are singing from an entirely different song sheet.

We begin today with the reigning alpha of the self-celebrated political super-staffers. Enter Ron Klain, President Joe Biden's chief of staff, who is a polymath in the D.C. sense that he has both a job and a Twitter account. Klain last week made news when he endorsed a tweet that dismissed our current bout of inflation as a mere problem for the "high class." Cut to Jeff Bezos weeping at the grocery store: "I can't possibly afford any of this!!!" Klain, according to a New York Times profile, is neighbors with Chief Justice John Roberts and lists Twitter as a "hobby," so you can tell he's the well-adjusted sort.