Is it possible that Sinema is playing a game to build Republican trust sufficiently long to get the bipartisan measure over the finish line… and maybe some other things over their finish lines… and then (as she may have intended all along) become a real Democrat again?
Or even, w Manchin, maybe to procedurally delay the process long enough so the Jan 6th hearings had already begun (and DOJ got ducks in order, and Biden Administration settled in across the board, etc, etc) and generally there was sufficient nationwide sea-change “cover” before the “brave” GOP senators had to break with the Trumpist monster?
[[update: earlier version considered the 17 breaking from McConnell…. until I learned that McConnell was one of the 17…. and thus my PronoiaMeter has taken a dip to the less hopeful direction.]]
After all, today’s 17 GOP defections are rather massive and rare in the Trump era…. those 17 would have reaped far more fire & brimstone against them even a month ago. The coast is not yet completely clear, and maybe never completely will be, but defying the Trump mob is becoming a bit more thinkable for those GOP Senate critters. (17 is a very interesting number, and quite a bit higher than the 10 we were expecting; and even moreso, in a Senate-historic context, 67 says something stronger than 60.)
Temporarily seeming to be to the right of Democrats nationally could help her among GOP & assorted weirdos in AZ, even tho she’s alienated many many Dems. But if it turns out she emerges in the end as a special factor who enabled Biden to pull off a miracle, I’d bet many of my fellow Dems would be willing to forgive & forget.