Why are progressives always the ones who have to compromise —and not Joe Manchin: MSNBC host
MSNBC host Medhi Hasan shared a tweet from progressive author Stephen King, who said that 70 percent of something is better than 100 percent of nothing. He referred to President Joe Biden's budget that includes a human infrastructure component to help fund childcare, paid family leave, universal pre-K, community college tuition and other things to move the green economy forward.
"We have a potential government shutdown and debt crisis coming down the line," Hasan said. "Oh, and a political stalemate over a $3.5 trillion social and economic policy and climate change bill. The heart of Biden agenda. If you are thinking the Republican Party is the Freddy Kruger of this nightmare, you'd be wrong. It's the left. Apparently, the left is to blame!"
He explained that the $3.5 trillion is a package that will be distributed over ten years and it's already based on a compromise.
"Bernie Sanders said just months ago he wanted and the climate needs $6 trillion over ten years," Hasan noted. "So, if we're looking for a 70 percent compromise as Stephen King suggests, we've already cleared that. $3.5 trillion is already less than 60 percent of what Sanders and the left were asking for. But why are we talking about compromising at all? This rhetoric is reflective of the commentary across the entire political and media landscape. Those on the left, progressives, are constantly told to 'Be more realistic. Just be pragmatic. Maybe consider a compromise.' But no one ever asks the conservatives, the centrists, the quote-unquote, moderates to compromise or back down, do they?"
He explained that climate change is a very serious issue that the country will have to pay for at some point. Either they can pay for it now when it's cheaper, or pay for it in the future when it costs ten times as much.
"What on earth have the so-called moderates got against it?" he asked. "I've said this time and time again. There is nothing moderate about opposing action on climate change or trying to make sure ordinary American families can just get by day-to-day. And yet you have Democratic Sen. Krysten Sinema (D-AZ) taking money from big pharma and Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and his family basking in coal money while blocking paid family leave and child care for their constituents. Perhaps we have to start talking about DINOs, Democrats In Name Only."
Manchin said that he wouldn't support the bill because it adds to the debt, so the Democrats asked Manchin how much he would accept. He refused to say. Biden has asked people like Manchin and Republicans what pieces of the plan they want to cut. There is universal pre-K, paid family leave, high-speed internet to rural areas. Still, neither Manchin nor the Republicans will explain what they don't like in the bill or pinpoint what they want to cut.
See the full commentary from Hasan below:
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