Joe Manchin has become a thorn in the side of our Democratic-led government. We felt it acutely when he finally agreed to pass the anti-inflation bill that has both short- and long-term benefits. Hopefully it’ll do some good.

That bill was as dead as a door nail. But like Lazarus, it rose again, and when Manchin added his 50th vote, we cried in exultation. But this reminded us, again, how this one Senator can muck up the works.

And now I am wondering if we aren’t going to see more of this in the future.

Axios is carrying this news item today that reports on a Republican state Senator in Colorado.

From Axios:

“A state senator in Colorado is resigning from the Republican Party and becoming a Democrat, citing the party’s complicity in the Jan. 6 insurrection and 2020 election denial as the reason.”

This would be Colorado Sen. Kevin Priola. Like Senator Manchin, Priola is a moderate that has voted on a bipartisan basis but has also voted with Republicans 90% of the time. He has said that he will not alter the way he votes despite his new party affiliation.

Since January 6, there have been several of these defections, all in response to the insurgency and to the continued lying about a stolen election. I like to call these defectors “Mini Manchins”.

So 1/6 has become a Manchin-creating machine. More and more people are changing their party affiliations but not their minds.