By Emily Zanotti
Civil rights activists say they aim to convince Democrat “swing vote” Senators Kyrsten Sinema (AZ) and Joe Manchin (WV) to support ending the filibuster by accusing them of “supporting racism” and opposing voting rights for minorities.
Democrats are aiming to do away with the filibuster in order to make pressing through progressive agenda items easier. Without the filibuster, they would need just a simple majority — 50 senators plus the support of Vice President Kamala Harris — to enact major changes to federal law without the “super-majority” of 60 votes currently required.
Without the filibuster, Democrats might easily pass gun control, make major reforms to voting laws that could loosen protections against election fraud, and end restrictions on immigration, according to proposals made by the Biden administration.
Sinema and Manchin, however, likely stand in the way of Democrat efforts, and while both have expressed tepid support for making slight changes to filibuster rules, neither has fully committed to doing away with the procedural tool, leaving progressives furious. In past weeks, a number of Democrats, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), have tried to move Sinema and Manchin on the issue by suggesting that the Senate filibuster is a tool historically used by racists to protect white supremacy — a suggestion that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) called a cynical ploy for unchecked power.
Rev. Al Sharpton told Politico on Thursday that he plans to take the racism claim one step further and charge both Sinema and Manchin with supporting and facilitating white supremacy if they do not commit to filibuster reform.
“The pressure that we are going to put on Sinema and Manchin is calling [the filibuster] racist and saying that they are, in effect, supporting racism,” Sharpton said. “Why would they be wedded to something that has those results? Their voters need to know that.”
Sharpton told Politico that he is not concerned what racism accusations might do to a politician’s reputation, even if those accusations are not supported by evidence. The ends, he seemed to tell Politico, justify the means.
“Many of us, and certainly all of us in the civil rights leadership, are committed to policies and laws and causes, not to people’s political careers. We’re not into that. We want to change the country,” he said. “And if there is not feasible evidence that we’re doing that, it is not in our concern to be aggressively involved.”
Sharpton may be the highest-profile civil rights activist to speak on the issue, but others told Politico they would follow his lead.
Is there any more clear indication that, with the liberal media on the Democrat team, they can just say out loud that, even when someone isn’t racist, they will accuse them of being racist to intimidate them into acting according to Group Think?