Republicans' should try to get Manchin to switch parties

 Quin Hillyer:

If Republican leaders are smart, they will start a concerted effort, right now, to entice Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia to leave the Democratic Party.

Manchin may not become a Republican (although he would fit in well as an “independent who caucuses with Republicans”), but he would better represent the values of his West Virginia constituents if he no longer affiliated himself with the increasingly radical -leftist Democrats who run the White House, the Senate, and the U.S. House. As a Republican or as an independent caucusing with Republicans, Manchin could retain a maverick persona while doing both his state and country the favor of forcing policy back to a sensible center.

Even just by making subtle noises about Manchin leaving the Democrats for good, Republicans could increase Manchin’s bargaining power against the left wing of his party. Even the most blinkered lefties might understand that holding a bare Senate majority (with Manchin remaining a Democrat) lets them accomplish more than they would if Manchin renounced his party and let Republican Mitch McConnell again become Senate Majority Leader. Republicans wanting to block the worst of the Biden-Bernie Sanders agenda would want to strengthen Manchin’s hand.

Why, though, would Manchin consider switching? There are many reasons.

Being a GOP-leaning independent would better fit the policy preferences espoused by Manchin and a large majority of West Virginians. There is no room remaining in the national-level Democratic Party for an officeholder who, like Manchin, is functionally pro-life, pro-fossil fuel, and pro-gun. And while Manchin is no true fiscal conservative, he is, unlike the vast majority of his Democratic colleagues in both chambers of Congress, a fiscal realist who recognizes “insanity ” when he sees it.

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There is more.

The argument makes sense.  What many Republicans fear is that they cannot trust him not to cave to the left.