Kyrsten Sinema Doubles Down on Owning the Libs

Earlier today, RedState’s Sister Toldjah covered Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s latest eye-catching presentation on the Senate floor, but she’s not done being in the news.

At the same time she was sporting a “Dangerous Creature” shirt in Congress, she was also owning the libs in epic fashion. As I have written on before, Sinema has pledged her support for the filibuster despite immense pressure from other Democrats to scrap it and go nuts (see Kyrsten Sinema Breaks Chuck Schumer’s Heart).

Now, she’s doubling down on breaking their hearts.

.@SenatorSinema is doubling down on her support of the #filibuster in emails to constituents today. 🧵 pic.twitter.com/uYtv4W0pGg

— Sarah Dohl (@SarahDohl) February 23, 2021

There was much wailing and gnashing of teeth in response to Sinema’s reinforcement of her prior position that she’s not going to blow the Senate up to appease the far-left.

And it’s a crisis. “Some of the 19 proposals would limit or eliminate no-excuse absentee ballots, make it harder to obtain an absentee ballot, impose stricter ID requirements and even give the legislature the right to pick presidential electors despite election results.”

— Sarah Dohl (@SarahDohl) February 23, 2021

She has a choice. The reality is that these critical democracy protections have NO PATH to 60 votes in the Senate. Period. So unless she changes her stance on eliminating the filibuster, she’s on record caring more about arcane Senate rules than she does our democracy.

— Sarah Dohl (@SarahDohl) February 23, 2021

Yeah, I’m sure all that crying about “our democracy” will convince Sinema that she’s made a mistake or something.

The problem for the far-left in this situation (and with Joe Manchin) is that the more you berate and tear down Sinema, the more likely she is to tell you to go jump in a lake. I honestly believe she enjoys the dynamic she has going. The Arizona Senator quite clearly likes being the one to stick her thumb in the eye of the far-left as she flexes her moderate bonafides. The more they scream at her, the more resolved Sinema is to make them suffer. There’s something poetic about that.

There’s also a much more practical aspect to the question of the filibuster. Time and again, Democrats have blown up Senate rules only to end up having the new precedent hurt them in immense ways. Donald Trump was able to stack the federal courts because Harry Reid blew up the judicial filibuster. If Democrats were to do the same to the legislative filibuster, it’d only be a matter of time before Republicans exacted payback. Sinema is smart enough to realize that while the rest of her mostly moronic colleagues can’t see past next week. In short, I think she enjoys this, but I also think she recognizes the long term backfire that would occur if the filibuster were eliminated.

Of course, there’s also the fact that Arizona typically likes a “maverick” in the Senate. She’s filled that role since beating Martha McSally in 2018. Sinema knows her constituency, and much like Manchin, she’s figured out the formula for how to become a Senate staple in a state that might not otherwise favor her electorally.

Regardless of the reasoning here, seeing Sinema cut the legs out from her own party is always a favorite pastime of mine.