Republicans need to clean house before expanding the tent

Rather than trying to recruit Manchin, Republicans need to get rid of the members dragging them down.

Republicans are trying to expand their tent ahead of a promising midterm election cycle, but they should be more concerned about kicking out the clowns. 

West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin sparked outrage on the Left when he tanked, for the time being, President Joe Biden’s signature social spending bill over the weekend. The senator’s emphatic “no” resulted in vitriolic responses from the White House, House members, and his colleagues in the Senate. But at least one senator was enthused at the centrist Democrat’s refusal to sign off on a third trillion-dollar bill in less than 12 months. 

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has been doing his best not only to support Manchin’s position but also to attempt to draw him across enemy lines and join the Grand Old Party, a move that would hand McConnell and Republicans control of the Senate. Republicans are already projected to win big in 2022, possibly regaining control of both chambers of Congress. 

“As I’ve said the last couple of days, I’ve had this conversation with him off and on for a couple of years,” McConnell said. “We come from states that have a lot in common, that have become increasingly red over the last decade or so. And I think what Manchin is discovering is that there just aren’t any Democrats left in the Senate that are pro-life and terribly concerned about debt and deficit and inflation.”

It might not hurt McConnell to hope for a Christmas miracle in recruiting Manchin, but there’s next to no evidence Manchin has any interest in giving up his grip on his party. 

When the idea that Manchin might switch sides early on in the reconciliation bill fight was first floated, he flatly said the idea was “bullshit.” If we’ve learned anything about West Virginia’s senior senator over the last 12 months, it’s that he means what he says. That sounds like a definitive “no” as resounding as his vote on the Build Back Better Act. 

Even without his shrugging off the idea of switching sides, Manchin’s voting record suggests he would be leaving like-minded compatriots for a less friendly group of companions. According to an analysis by FiveThirtyEight, Manchin has voted in line with the Biden agenda 97.4% of the time — that score will drop slightly as his most recent defection hasn’t been accounted for, but Manchin remains among the most consistent group of Biden supporters. Right now, Manchin has his finger on the scales of any partisan Democratic plans in the Senate. He has no reason to cut bait and run now, even if his party has stepped up its attacks on him.

Snagging Manchin would be a boon to Republicans, but McConnell should instead be training his focus on pressuring members in the lower chamber to clean up their house. Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy is proving to be a poor leader of a group of rowdy Republicans who can’t seem to keep their mouths shut or their bodies on committees. 

Democrats have already axed Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Paul Gosar from their committees, and now they have their sights set on removing Rep. Lauren Boebert as well. McCarthy showed his mettle when he took the lead on removing Rep. Steve King from his committees following comments suggesting his pension to support white supremacists — but even that took longer than it should have. 

There was a time when Republicans could boast that they were more capable of disciplining their own than Democrats, who have a host of members who Republicans have already suggested they will remove from committees should they succeed in taking the House next year. But McCarthy has lost the moral high ground in the last year, and McConnell, though in another chamber, should let his House contemporary know that the time for entertaining undisciplined members is over. 

None of those three are holding onto a seat in a competitive district, according to the nonpartisan Cook Political Report House race ratings for 2022. McConnell has the institutional respect and monetary backing to make the lives of unrepentant members very difficult. With a message that they cannot be relied on to follow party leadership, or stay quiet long enough to keep themselves on a committee so they can influence legislation, Republicans have a chance to make themselves appear ready to govern. 

All signs point to a red wave crashing down and handing Republicans an opportunity to stymie a White House fraught with interparty bickering and no clear standard-bearer for 2024. Now is a good time to welcome newcomers to an ascendant GOP, but McConnell and others need to make room for them first.