Did we over-hype Manchin? That’s the question Jim pitches to Michael on today’s edition of The Editors. It’s about perspective, though, as Michael makes clear: “We do have to be honest here. This is dramatically slimmed down and less dangerous to pass than the original version of Build Back Better.” He goes on to say that, “This is something much smaller, much less inflationary,” and he thinks we should be thankful for the overall effect Manchin has had on the direction of this Congress.
Our resident China expert, Jimmy Quinn also joins the gang today to cover Nancy Pelosi’s possible stop in Taiwan. While the visit would not be unprecedented, China has threatened some type of military action if Pelosi decides to visit the island nation. “We’ve been pursuing a closer diplomatic relationship with Taiwan while still staying true to our One China policy,” Quinn said. “Meanwhile, in Beijing, there’s been a lot of saber-rattling, a lot of flights through Taiwan’s air-defense-identification zone, and more belligerent rhetoric.”
This is a multi-faceted issue, so what should the Speaker do? Per Quinn: “At the end of the day, there’s this choice that only Speaker Pelosi can make — the White House can’t make it for her. And I think that National Review’s editorial line is correct: She should go.”
Finally, that lurking annoyance, Covid-19, reclaims our attention for a bit, as Jim, Michael, and Jimmy discuss what steps the GOP should take to investigate its origins. There’s a lot to cover, as Jimmy says, and the difficulty for the next Congress will be one of prioritization. Jim follows up with an important point: “It’s worth a deep dive into how we [went], almost over night . . . from a constitutional republic in which people’s rights were first and foremost as laid out in the Bill of Rights, to the kind of country where you could get arrested for being outside. . . . Did people understand the kind of lunacy they were empowering?”
Listen to the whole episode here: