Senator Manchin is getting a lot of advice these days about switching parties, especially on the heels of Senator Sinema going "indy."  According to news reports, Mr. Manchin is going nowhere:

"Joe Manchin will switch parties the day after the sun rises in the west," said one Republican strategist who works in West Virginia politics, adding Manchin's connection to the party reflects a "deep sense of identity" for the senator.

"He views their progressive turn as an aberration, historically speaking," the strategist said. 

"Expect him to spend the next two years voting against everything Biden wants in an effort to restore his brand as a moderate and to bury memories of his dishonesty on Build Back Better."

"He despises the Republican Party and would never join it," the strategist added.

OK, so Joe is a loyal guy, and that's a good thing.  However, the Democrat party in West Virginia that Senator Manchin is loyal to is dead.  It does not exist anymore.  Check out the state's congressional delegation.  The only "D" is Senator Manchin, and he did not win his 2018 re-election with big numbers.

So is he loyal to a memory or representing his state?

Do we have to remind Senator Manchin of President Biden's war on coal?  Wonder how his constituents felt hearing this?

President Joe Biden made remarks suggesting that his administration intends to shut down coal and oil power plants in favor of solar and wind energy while he was in California on Friday talking about the CHIPS and Science Act.

According to the West Virginia Office of Miners' Health Safety & Training, West Virginia's coal industry employed 11,333 people as of 2021.

How can Senator Manchin support these 11,333 people and vote with the Biden administration? or continue as a Democrat?

Senator Manchin should go independent and look out for West Virginia.  Again, the Democrat party that he joined years ago does not exist anymore.  Its replacement does not have anything in common with West Virginia.

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Image: Third Way Think Tank via Flickr, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.