Prime Minister Joe Manchin goes full segregationist

Prime Minister Joe Manchin declared in a new published op-ed that he supports segregation and opposes democracy: Why I'm voting against the For the People Act Charleston [WV] Gazette-Mail 06/06/2021. The For The People Act, also known as H.R.1, is the main piece of legislation passed by the House and now pending in the Senate, which would give the federal government the authorization to reverse many of the segregationist voter-suppression laws Republicans are continuing to pass across the country.

His "argument" is that the Republican are passing blatantly partisan voter-suppression laws, so any federal law to prevent that should also be supported by the Republicans whose party is so completely committed to voter suppression. No, it's not an actual argument. It doesn't even rise to the level of gaslighting. It just means that PM Manchin supports the Republicans' segregationist voter-suppression laws.

And, to re-emphasize his commitment to the Democratic Party of Theodore Bilbo and Ross Barnett, he writes, "I will not vote to weaken or eliminate the filibuster."

That also means that his claim that he will support the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, a bill designed to remove the objections that the Supreme Court used to gut the 1965 Voting Rights Act, is effectively meaningless. Unless the filibuster is adjusted or abolish, the Senate Republicans will just kill it with the filibuster.

A nominal Democrat, PM Manchin is all on board with the Republican program to "Orbanize" the US by extreme gerrymandering like that in Viktor Orbán's Hungary to insure the Republicans always win a majority of seats even when Democrats win a majority of votes, by suppressing African-American and Latino votes and restricting voter access for poor whites, and by setting aside the rule of law, at least when it comes to members of the Republican Party or the oligarchs who support them.

I'm going to start using the word "segregation" a lot more for our current political situation. The core of Southern segregation was the disenfranchisement of African-Americans in defiance of the 13th and 14 Amendments to the Constitution.

The segregated schools and the endless number of official restrictions designed to restrict and demean black citizens are probably what comes to mind for most people when the word "segrgation" is mentioned. But the foundation, the core of the segregation system was the suppression of the rights of African-American voters. It was dominant in the South for at least 80 years, depending on what post 1875 date your pick as the end of Reconstruction.

Reuters reports on the latest from PM Orbán-Manchin, Manchin to oppose voting rights bill pushed by Democrats 06/07/2021:

TYT's Cenk Uygur expressed his disgust at PM Orbán-Manchin on Twitter:

Joe Biden’s first term is now over with Manchin saying he’s against both filibuster reform & For the People Act. Biden doesn’t have the inclination to fight back. They’ll get almost nothing done from now on. Manchin just handed Congress back to @GOP. He’s worse than a Republican.

— Cenk Uygur (@cenkuygur) June 6, 2021

Here is Democratic National Committee Chair Jaime Harrison responding to PM Orbán-Manchin's latest reaffirmation of his support of segregation and his hostility to democracy, DNC Chair With Direct Response to Sen. Joe Manchin Bill Decision 06/6/2021: