Joe Manchin, Unleashed

President Biden is taking some knocks to his agenda, but don’t go pointing fingers at House Republicans. The White House and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer are learning the hard way that there are consequences to double-crossing one of their own.

Sen. Joe Manchin is a man scorned—and living up to the adage about women. He thrilled Democrats last summer when he finally agreed to greenlight a huge chunk of the Biden agenda, signing off on the misguided (and mistitled) Inflation Reduction Act. His thanks has been for his Senate brethren to deny him the permitting reform he was promised, and for the White House to undercut brazenly key provisions he wrote into the bill. While the betrayal might have been predictable, it apparently hasn’t made it any more palatable for the West Virginian.