Senate's Most Conservative Democrat Issues Lame Plea to Shield His Colleagues From Accountability

Welcome to WHAT NOW, a morning round-up of the news/fresh horrors that await you today.

Senator Joe Manchin, a Democrat from West Virginia who often votes with Republicans, will ask his colleagues to pledge not to campaign against each other, CNN reported.

“If you go to work and you know somebody’s been in your state campaigning against you—it might be a person you’ve worked with and you considered a friend—I can tell you, that deteriorates that trust and that friendship level that you had before,” Manchin said in an interview with the network on Monday night.

He went on to say the practice creates a “hostile environment” that senators won’t forget, even if the perceived slight happened “five or 10 years ago.”

The message isn’t a new one from Manchin, who faces an uphill bid for re-election, but it’s slated to come less than a week after Vice President Mike Pence criticized the senator for voting against the Republican tax bill. Manchin responded by saying Pence’s remarks “are exactly why Washington Sucks [sic].”

Agreeing not to campaign against a sitting colleague is a decision perhaps even more mired in crony establishment politics than being dispatched to campaign for someone. The Senate is not a gentlemen’s club, and senators should not be shielded from accountability by their peers just because they go to the same gym. You’re going to hear a lot of talk from so-called “moderates” about this sort of bipartisan unity in the run-up to November, but there’s a better idea: primary everyone who signs Manchin’s pledge and, while we’re at it, everyone who voted to sell out DACA recipients by ending the government shutdown.

WHAT ELSE?

• Donald Trump is reviewing whether to allow the publication of the Democratic rebuttal to Devin Nunes’ big-nothing memo after the House Intelligence Committee voted to release it on Monday evening.
• The House is expected to vote today on yet another short-term spending bill to avert yet another government shutdown. The bill would fund the government until March 23. Meanwhile, the Senate is spending today taking up a defense spending bill. Priorities!
• Before he joined the administration, Raj Shah, who’s now the deputy White House press secretary, called Trump “a deplorable” and said the infamous Access Hollywood tape provided “some justice,” New York magazine reported.
• I’m sorry but please absolutely do less, Justin Trudeau.

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