Just as any single Democratic senator can veto whatever the Democrats try to legislate — assuming that every single Republican senator will oppose everything the Democrats attempt — so also every single Republican senator can nullify such veto power (so badly abused by Joe Manchin), thus making good things, even urgently needed things, possible.
I know, a great many readers here will feel moved to declare all of the Republican Senators in the caucus of the execrable Mitch McConnell to bethe scum of the earth, irredeemable, not worth expending the least bit of hope or effort.
But here are two things to consider:
- Liz Cheney is also a Republican, one whom — a year ago — those readers would presumably have dismissed as just as irredeemable. But Liz Cheney is now playing a heroic role— heroic both because she has probably sacrificed her political future to protect American democracy and honor her oath of office, and because she is playing a leadership role against the abomination her life-long Party has become.
- As Rep. Cheney’s departure from today’s authoritarian Republican Party began with her voting to impeach Trump for his role in inciting the Insurrection, so also were there seven Republican senators who voted to convict Trump in the impeachment trial that followed. (Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Richard Burr of North Carolina, Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Mitt Romney of Utah, Ben Sasse of Nebraska and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania.)
In view of those two facts, does it make sense to dismiss out of hand the idea that one or more in that group of Republican senators — who have already shown by their impeachment vote some concern for the integrity of American democracy — might under the right circumstances decide that their constitutional duty to “protect and defend the Constitution” outweighs whatever motivations they have to maintain solidarity with their Party even as that Party conducts its multi-pronged assault on our constitutional order?
The question then arises: what might be those “right circumstances”?
What if one Republican Senator is both necessary and sufficient to protect Voting Rights? (And that looks like that could be the case.)
Joe Manchin is claiming to care about voting rights, but there seems a real possibility that he’ll belie that claim by refusing to do what’s necessary to pass it: namely to alter the Senate rules — even if only with a specific carve out for voting rights — so that it can pass with a majority vote.
In that case — if Manchin’s refusal to change the filibuster rule is all that stands in the way of blocking the Republicans’ efforts at the state-level to suppress votes and enable their partisans to overthrow “the will of the people” — a single Republican Senator joining with all the other Democrats could change the rule.
(Likewise, if Manchin is joined in his obstruction by Sinema, a mere two Republican senators could change the rule, and thus make a vital contribution to saving American democracy.)
It is certainly arguable that passing Voting Rights legislation is as important to protecting American democracy as was voting to convict Donald Trump. So perhaps an appeal could be made to those Republicans who did cast that vote for conviction.
Laws to protect voting rights used to be passed unanimously. Any defecting Republican can argue compellingly that there’s nothing radical about protecting voting rights.
(And that’s not even taking into account the irrefutable defense for a Republican who breaks ranks: that the sacred oath they took actually requires them to protect the ability of the citizenry of this nation to express their political will in our elections.)
Admittedly, no matter how strong the arguments in defense of protecting the voting rights of citizens, it’s true that Republicans who enable the Democrats (and who thwart the Republicans’ authoritarian movement) are likely to pay a political price.
But if Liz Cheney can choose integrity, honor, and fidelity to her oath over getting re-elected, might there not be another Republican (or two) out there to whom an appeal can successfully be made?
(And whereas the carve out of the filibuster to protect voting rights is the most obvious, and least politically dangerous way a Republican Senator can rescue our future, there are plenty of other ways he or she will likely have the opportunity to do so. See, in this respect, my piece here two days ago: “Mitt Romney: Why Is Liz Cheney a ‘Better Man’ Than You?”)
Besides, from among those Senators who voted to convict Trump, Burr and Toomey are retiring from the Senate anyway. And Mitt Romney is 74, and presumably, in a worse-case scenario for him, would sacrifice a lot fewer future years in office than Liz Cheney likely did.
In exchange for what might be her political future, Liz Cheney has earned herself an honored place in the history books that will be written and read in the future.
It is rare that any member of the Senate has an opportunity to win a hallowed place in the history books with some principled act of political integrity and courage. This is one of those rare opportunities.
Just as this 50-50 Senate has put into the hands of a man like Joe Manchin the power to push the whole nation over onto the destructive side of a tipping point, so also does this 50-50 Senate quite possibly put into the hands of any Republican Senator the ability to prevent that destructive outcome, and steer the nation.
All of which leads to this bottom line:
If I were President Biden, I would invite — one at a time — those seven Republican senators to the White House for a conversation. In that conversation, I would make the strongest appeal I could to that senator’s better self — their patriotism, their honoring their oath of office, the heroic historic role available to them — to help rescue the nation from the ongoing assault on the Constitution.
(I would also, perhaps, talk about how contrary to the good of the nation it is to have a filibuster rule that paralyzes the nation from taking constructive action to meet a host of crises that America now faces. The case against the filibuster rule in today’s perilous circumstance could hardly be stronger.)
I certainly would turn to the Republicans rather than acquiesce in Joe Manchin’s abuse of the powers this 50-50 Senate has put into his hands.