This story has been buzzing for months, but I point you to a recent article on the decline of new music in the United States:

“It’s Official: New Music Is Shrinking In Popularity In The United States”: https://bit.ly/3uZw9gv

Is new music not as good?

I’d argue that case, but that is not what is happening here. We’ve reached the tipping point, YOU JUST CAN’T REACH PEOPLE ANYMORE!

The music business is the canary in the coal mine. It’s where disruption happens first. What happens in the music business ultimately spreads to other industries. So what is happening here is there’s a plethora of product and the means of promoting that product has become ever less efficient and diverse.

Let me make it simple. Used to be if you were on AM radio everybody knew your name and music.

Then FM bifurcated the attention, but it turned out active listeners/buyers/concertgoers all listened to FM, so the business burgeoned, along with disposable income.

Then came MTV. MTV minted worldwide stars. Fewer acts got through the sieve, but those who did could play to audiences anywhere around the world. Even one hit wonders are embedded in everybody’s brain. Can you say “Take On Me”?

But then came the internet.

At first it was all about excavating the past. Both official and unofficial product. And while the oldsters were complaining about having their money stolen the younger generations, unexposed to the past, embraced the new tools of creation and distribution and soon seemingly everybody was making music.

And music was easier to make than ever before. Your computer could be your studio. You could buy the beats, and anybody could rap. There used to be a bar, you had to know how to play and write. Or someone with connections thought they could mold you into a star. Studio time was expensive. Most people could not play.

And at first all these people who were previously excluded posted on YouTube, and then SoundCloud, and finally Spotify and its ilk.

As for terrestrial radio? Seems like younger generations, who actively move the popular music needle, have given up on it.

So where you gonna hear the latest hits? What’s going to motivate you to rally around the priorities of the labels, pushing their product?

But if you want to really be shocked, read this article:

“No One Even Comes Close to Bad Bunny’s Stardom Right Now”: https://bloom.bg/3zks7SB

Here’s the meat of the story:

“Bad Bunny songs appeared in the Spotify top 100 more times over the last 2 months than those of Harry Styles, Olivia Rodrigo, Drake and Kendrick Lamar combined. Three of those four acts also released new albums. Post Malone, one of the most popular performers of the last few years, didn’t even crack the top 10.

Now let’s take it a step further. Bad Bunny beat every single record label in the industry. The only label that even came close is Columbia, which charted songs from more than a dozen artists, including Harry Styles, Lil Nas X, Adele and The Kid Laroi. Bad Bunny songs appeared more than twice as many times as acts from Atlantic, home of Ed Sheeran, Bruno Mars, Cardi B, Lizzo and Jack Harlow.”

That’s right, one single artist eclipsed the ENTIRE OUTPUT of every major label.

Talk about a blockbuster business.

The essence of Bad Bunny is he is worldwide, his music translates everywhere, whereas most of what is in the Spotify Top 50, at least the American acts, does not. In other words, new music is an ever smaller circle jerk, appealing to fewer and fewer customers.

Now the end result here will be more labels looking for more Bad Bunnys. But what we’ve learned is there is only mindshare for only a few of these ubiquitous acts. And those we think are ubiquitous often are not. Like Post Malone, his new album is a disappointment. And Beyonce’s new single has underperformed so far.

I mean could anybody get more ink, more publicity than Beyonce?

But ink no longer means that much. The endless reviews, the stories in the straight media. It all comes down to the public, which can be manipulated ever less in the modern world.

Used to be you paid the programmer to put your records on the station, whether it be with cash or CD players or TVs or other physical products. There was a direct connection from your label to the ears of the customer. That connection has been broken. The number one place to expose new music is TikTok, and the labels are all in cahoots with the Chinese social media company, but you can lead a horse to water, but that does not mean they’ll drink.

In other words, TikTok pushes music to its influencers, but they don’t have to use it. And even if they do, that does not mean it will go viral, with others making videos to the same music. The labels have lost control!

But what about the Spotify Top 50!

Take a look at it. It’s got a very narrow scope.

Then check out the genre playlists.

Yesterday I wanted to catch up on country music. I went on Spotify and they’ve got SEVENTY EIGHT official country playlists! The one I found most palatable, Heart of Texas… Most of these records don’t even show up in the Hot Country playlist, never mind the Spotify Top 50.

And there’s a plethora of playlists for every genre.

We’re told by the powers-that-be, the major labels with their hype machine and the publications who eat and regurgitate their pabulum, that we live in a hip-hop/pop world. But this is patently untrue. Yes, those genres have large reach, arguably the most. Then again, the biggest album of the last eighteen months is by Morgan Wallen, who sings songs, with verses and choruses, that you can sing along to, the kind that are rarely represented in the Spotify Top 50.

But number one is Kate Bush’s track from “Stranger Things.”

Does this mean old music is better than new music?

I’d say the old music is better, but that’s not what this statistic represents. It shows the power of Netflix, the power of one hit show. And TV is still expensive to make, and despite all the press about the number of shows it’s a small number compared to the number of records released.

But Netflix, et al, have huge competition. Not so much from each other, but from TikTok and YouTube. Kids spend hours on those platforms, that’s the center of culture except for a breakout here and there. And TikTok and YouTube have endless space, meaning that any “hit” reaches a smaller percentage of the public.

Going back to Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill”…

According to the MBW article above, catalog has increased by 14% compared to the 1.4% drop in new music consumption.

So there you have it folks, the old music is far superior, people want classic rock!

Well, they do, but that’s not what is going on here.

Turns out catalog is anything in excess of eighteen months old!

“Music originally released in 2019 alone took a 14% share of all ‘Catalog’ streams in H1 2022; music originally released in 2018 took an 11% share.

And music originally released in either of these years was more popular on US streaming services in the first half of 2022 than all music released in the 1990s combined.

Same goes for all music released in the 1980s, and all music released in the 1970s.”

So the decline of new music’s share is not so much about the golden oldies but the difficulty of creating hits in an ever more dense marketplace. People go to what they know, that’s what they want to hear. And more people know the old music than the new. Every year new music consumption goes down. Because it’s harder to reach people and create a ubiquitous hit.

Yes, the music business has returned to the fifties, the pre-Beatle era. It’s a small business run by shysters, only in this case the labels are all public companies. No one’s throwing the long ball, there’s almost no innovation, they keep doing what they know, which means new music reaches fewer people and outsiders can dominate the marketplace, i.e. Bad Bunny.

And in truth, Bad Bunny is distributed by the Orchard, now owned by Sony. But what does it say when your indie arm outdoes your main business?

So what does this mean for music in general.

There’s no there there. There is no Top 50. It’s an irrelevant metric. We no longer pool all music. Instead, there are various verticals. And it’s not about crossing over, nearly impossible, the verticals are ever more narrow and defined, but becoming as big as you can in the world you inhabit, which means you’re probably going to be less big than the hit acts of yore.

Which doesn’t mean you’ll be broke without an audience. There are so many more ways to monetize these days. And to know who your fans are and reach them. But worldwide dominance? Mostly a fairy tale.

And that which goes worldwide… Bad Bunny is quite good, but is that the music you’re creating, the kind that can play everywhere, can be understood by anybody who can appreciate a beat? Probably not. But expect in pursuance of the Bad Bunny paradigm ever less innovative Latin music from the major purveyors. They see all that money and want some. And they suddenly realize it’s a worldwide business, which is a good thing.

And we need Bad Bunnys, to bring us together, to make us feel part of society if nothing else. But creating them is nearly impossible, much harder than ever before. And, this means that the niches, the verticals not represented in the Spotify Top 50, are bigger than ever before.

Analogize politics. There are so many people you can’t reach with the truth, they don’t want to hear the truth, and there are outlets speaking to every predilection, every conspiracy theory.

And that’s what these people want, to belong to a tribe, just like a music fan. And we’ve always known the largest tribes are the least sustaining. Because it’s the casual fans who glom on when you need the dedicated hard core fans to continue.

So if radio means ever less, if the Mediabase numbers don’t mean much, and neither does the Spotify Top 50, what does count?

Well, concert grosses. And isn’t it interesting that those grosses rarely align with the Spotify Top 50. You can have a hit on that chart and still be unable to go on the road, not enough people willing to pay to see you.

We are living in an era of chaos. And in an era of chaos, most people look to the past to hang on to, something they are familiar with, something they know, otherwise the landscape is too overwhelming.

We let everybody play on Spotify, et al, and ultimately this contributed to the decline of the new music business. There’s just too much there for anybody to comprehend, so they revert to the oldies.

It’s only going to get worse. This is the new normal. Declining expectations.

Unless you’re Bad Bunny.

And even Bad Bunny didn’t know he was Bad Bunny. Worldwide domination always comes from left field, it’s unpredicted, you can’t clone it, you’ve just got to wait for it.

Everything, well, so much you thought you knew, is dead. That the majors are all powerful, that radio is all powerful, that charts are all powerful…

And it gets harder to comprehend each and every day.

Tune in today, July 19th, to Volume 106, 7 PM East, 4 PM West.

Phone #: 844-6-VOLUME, 844-686-5863

Twitter: @lefsetz or @siriusxmvolume/#lefsetzlive

Hear the episode live on SiriusXM VOLUME: siriusxm.us/HearLefsetzLive

If you miss the episode, you can hear it on demand on the SiriusXM app: siriusxm.us/LefsetzLive

https://amzn.to/3AWIbuZ

I got addicted to this book. Which is kind of funny, I could never fathom Rachel Kushner before. I read her “Flamethrowers” and I’m not sure I even understood it. Oh, I got the big picture, but the little picture, the photographs inside the movie, it felt like reading “Ulysses,” albeit much shorter.

I’m looking for fulfillment, zing. Ordinary doesn’t interest me. And with so little sand left in the hourglass, I become paralyzed, by choice. I don’t want to waste time on mediocre, I don’t want to feel like I’m just passing time, I want to eat up life.

I’ve always wanted to eat up life, I’ve always had my sights aimed at the top. And I thought everybody was like me but this turned out to be untrue.

I didn’t have a desire to get married. I didn’t want to settle down. I wanted to do stuff, I didn’t want to watch my kids do stuff. I didn’t want to sacrifice. I didn’t get the kids thing until I was over forty, I actually proffered to my sometime to be ex that we have some, little did I know she was screwing somebody else, I’ve only realized as time has gone by that honesty was not her forte.

But then the window passes. At least it passed me by. I’ve still got the equipment, but I don’t wan to be like Tony Randall, have kids when I’m almost eighty.

But the deeper you go, the longer you stick around, the less meaning life has. You think it’s building to a crescendo, when in truth it’s going to fade out, peter out, and you can see the end coming and nobody else cares because it’s the way of life, everybody dies.

The secret of life is enjoying the passage of time. That’s what James Taylor sang. Back when we were all paying attention, when one album could reach everybody. Before life became a smorgasbord of offerings with no center. Do you find this confusing? I certainly do. There’s not enough time to dig deep and get the lay of the landscape, never mind the fact that they’re constantly releasing new product. All you can do is go on your own private hejira, and it better have meaning for you, because it has no meaning for anybody else.

So I felt like I was reading to kill time. Well, not exactly. Let me put it another way, I felt like when I was done reading a book I had killed time. And they’re not making any more of it.

So I decided to read the Top Ten lists, looking for stuff I’d missed that I wanted to read.

And when I got back to 2018, I found “The Mars Room.”

Boy did they make a big deal about it when it was released. They even had a special section of the “Times” where a portion was published. You don’t want to overhype these days. And the funny thing is it’s nonfiction that bursts out of the gate, fiction needs a while to percolate in the marketplace. Readers have to find it and trumpet it and then word of mouth happens. Or it does not. “The Mars Room” was not as successful commercially as it was predicted to be. It was backlash. Also, the looky-loos gave it a try and found out that Kushner was anything but highly readable, you had to focus, you couldn’t be interrupted, you had to commit to get the dividends, which is not how so many read books these days. They read the junk, which is more about turning pages, which they can finish quickly. Or they read the tomes, and take a whole summer to finish them.

So I had “The Mars Room” on my Kindle. My mother had purchased it for one of her book groups. I don’t think she ever read it. Oh, did I tell you my mother was dead? Kind of freeing if you want to know the truth. I check myself constantly. When I start seizing, freezing up, I realize that my mother is buried and that her judgment is irrelevant! It’s just me now.

That’s another thing. All the regrets I’ve had (and if you don’t have any you’re lying). We all misstep. But then you realize the person you offended, the person you mishandled, the person you’d want to make peace with even though you’re not going to make the effort, is DEAD! It just doesn’t matter anymore. And soon you’ll be dead too.

So I read on a Kindle. I’ve got the Oasis, the top of the line. Actually, now there’s a cheaper, newer one with more battery life, but it doesn’t have the page turning buttons, and the buttons enhance the reading experience.

And the thing about the Kindle is e-ink is not like a computer screen, it’s like a book. Whereas an iPad… That is like a computer screen, and it’s supposedly harder on the eyes, although you can turn on Night Shift after dark, which yellows the screen, supposedly so you can still fall asleep, but it’s a completely different reading experience, one that I pooh-pooh. But I found myself reading an OCD book on the iPad last year and it worked. And I was using both my iPhone and iPad to check out books, to research what to read, and then I told myself… Why don’t I try reading “The Mars Room” on my iPad. Maybe that will make the difference. Because I’ve started “The Mars Room” at least twice and didn’t get far past the first page.

The iPad is bigger. Even though the Oasis has at least one more line than the rest of the Kindles. The iPad is essentially a page per page, i.e. one book page equals one book page in the Kindle app on the iPad, whereas this is not the case on the Kindle, and that’s frustrating, because you turn the “page” and yet you’re still on the same page.

And lo and behold I could suddenly get into it! The book, “The Mars Room,” I’m talking about.

And then I couldn’t stop.

Well, this was after I realized I had to put the iPad in Airplane Mode, otherwise I’d read something and it would stimulate me and I’d go on the web to research it and that would inspire me to research something else and…

I hate the weekends, I like the action of the weekdays. Funny how you can blow time on the weekend that you’d love to have back during the week.

So I’m reading and when I stop “The Mars Room” is calling to me, it’s giving me something to live for. And we all need something to live for. And it’s even better if it’s private, just for us.

That’s the magic of “The Mars Room.” It’s off the grid. As in it doesn’t fit into everyday society, the modern world. It’s ultimately a prison story. Very detailed. But prisoners exist in a parallel universe, akin to the one you want to visit when you read. You want to be taken away, you want to marinate in a space that only you and the book inhabit, YOU WANT TO OWN IT!

Yes, that’s what we’re looking for in all our entertainment, something we can own.

Let me give you a few examples.

Like “You Can Count On Me,” I love that movie. Or “Something Wild.”

And it doesn’t matter that everybody knows it, Alanis Morissette’s “Jagged Little Pill” you can own too, because of her honesty, her directness, she’s only playing to herself, you’ve got a window into her world, it feels personal.

Now when you work outside the system, try to create a personal experience, a transcendent experience, the suits at the entertainment companies are not interested. Because there are none of the obvious hooks, nothing to pre-sell the project on, get people interested.

Back before entertainment truly became big business that was not an issue. But now all anybody wants are grand slams, even a single is not good enough, never mind a bunt. But one bunt can change the whole game. It’s unexpected, it’s nearly sotto voce, unlike a home run it pulls everybody in, quickly, while the runners hustle around the bases.

But most players bunt poorly. It’s an easy out. But when you do it right…

So you’ve got Romy, who is serving two life sentences. I don’t think I’m giving anything away here. How do you cope knowing there’s no way out.

And the crooked cop.

And the cast of characters behind bars.

Kushner does an excellent job of portraying the other universe of incarceration. How much food you can eat, the attitude of the guards, the inmate society. There’s no way you can stand alone, above the fray. You’re dragged in. And you’re gonna break the code, everybody does. And the population helps you. You see what they’ve got and you want some too.

And it’s kind of like football. The dear departed John Madden said you play one game in the NFL and your body will never be the same. Go to jail for a while, not the holding tank, not county, and you’re never going to recover, even if you get out and never go back.

You see now, more than ever, people like to believe we’re not animals at heart, that there are morals, rules, that it’s not every person for themselves. But that’s the way it really is. If it’s between them and you they’re going to choose themselves, they may not even hip you to the contest, they want every advantage they can get.

And love/sex/relationships. That’s what makes the world go ’round. You regularly hear about guards falling in love with prisoners and helping them escape. The truth is if you live in a closed environment…people are just people and you’re gonna be infatuated, fall in love with them. You think you’re holding out for the movie star, the rich and famous person, but it really comes down to who you’re around. Which is one reason why you should hang around with the kind of people you want to be married to, or do business with. The fact that marriage in the U.S. is based on bumping into people in bars is ridiculous. As for the apps… Hell, play enough and you might find someone, but many people are delusional, they think they can create a checklist of what they want, not knowing the problem is THEM!

So I’m not recommending “The Mars Room.” I just don’t think most people will like it. Hell, most people are doing their best to stay connected to society, they don’t want to step aside and get out of the fray.

But that’s where the rewards lie.

Only when you get outside of life can you really see it.

So “The Mars Room” proved to me that some books are better than others, some records are better than others, ditto movies and TV. Sure, we all have access to the same creative tools, but some people are just more skilled, they can do it better than the rest.

And those at the top are not competing. Because in truth, in art, you’re only competing against yourself. You’re doing your best to get what’s in your head, your emotions, your feelings, down. That’s the key to excellence, plot is secondary.

So you wonder why it’s a blockbuster culture. Because there’s a limited amount of great stuff!

Is “The Mars Room” perfect? No. A bogus leave-you-hanging ending, like in too much vaunted fiction. If you’re looking for ultimate resolution, this is not the place, go for the lowbrow stuff. And the ending makes sense, but really, I’d like a whole ‘nother book, kind of like Franzen, with his new “Crossroads” trilogy.

“Crossroads” is excellent. Too bad Franzen himself is so self-satisfied he turns people off. I highly recommend it. It’s highly readable.

“The Mars Room” is something different. Maybe because it’s written by a woman. Deborah Tannen says women don’t compete. Of course there are exceptions, but reading “The Mars Room” you don’t get the feeling that Kushner is trying to create something that will reach everybody, that will be crowned as the latest and greatest. Well, I don’t know Rachel, but the book doesn’t read that way. It reads like someone got an idea, pursued it, and then laid it down, finished it. It’s a project. And most projects go nowhere, because the people behind them are just not good enough.

This is what artist wannabes don’t realize. We’re not looking for entertainment, we’re looking for life itself, our lives reflected back upon us, insight. And it’s very hard to do this. And if you ever met some of the people who can achieve this, your jaw would drop, so many are maladjusted. But they can do this one thing.

I guess my only hope here is you read the above and get an impression of the experience I had reading “The Mars Room.” Which I just finished. In three days. Well, forty eight hours. Screw the plot, it’s irrelevant. A book can be about anything. But does it transport you, make you feel like a human being, that life is worth living. Does it set your mind free to wander, put together links you didn’t see previously. Ultimately does it make you feel less alone?

That’s how I felt reading “The Mars Room.”

Your mileage may differ. I’d proffer most people’s mileage will differ.

But who cares about most people? 

He’s a DINO. As in “Democrat In Name Only.”

This doesn’t happen in the Republican party. Go against the tribe and not only are you ostracized, YOU’RE PRIMARIED!

The Democrats have to put the fear of God into Joe Manchin. Because this guy is holding up the entire Democratic agenda, which is putting the Democratic party in jeopardy in toto. Yes, “supposed Democrat” Joe Manchin is single-handedly disillusioning the youth and turning the country towards Republicans. Meanwhile, he sits self-satisfied on his boat believing he’s the grand pooh-bah, everybody kowtowing to him.

Screw that.

So he’s going to turn Republican. That’s the threat? No problem! Go that way Joe. Append yourself to the party of Trump. And we’ll run a Democrat against you in West Virginia and you’ll be forced to defend your biased positions. Pro old energy when you’re invested in it. How’s that gonna look when someone runs to the left of it and hammers it all day long on television and online, where the young voters live. The young voters are not getting rich off oil and coal, it’s the oldsters. Running a candidate to the left of Manchin will motivate them to vote. And if enough of them do, there’s no way Manchin can win, NO WAY!

Joe needs to be scared. Made to quake in his boots.

Enough with Schumer talking nice. What you do with a guy like this is freeze him out. Remove all access. Treat him as a pariah. It’s like nobody in government has ever won in business, never mind in sports. When someone believes they’re bigger than the game, when they’re holding up the works, you make that person PAY!

Instead, “supposed Democrat” Manchin is a hero to the right. While being paid fealty by the left.

Sure, the guy is in the middle of his term. But he’s got to be told he’s being primaried, period. The Democrats hew to conventional wisdom, about a theoretical center, akin to the “silent majority” of Nixon’s era. That’s B.S. Wanna know how you win? Run further to the left, energize people! Stop telling me about the non-vocal centrists who you’re so convinced exist and are the majority voting pool.

This isn’t the strategy the Republicans employed to dominance. They took the whole party to the right. And if you go against them… Hell, they primaried Liz Cheney, who despite her participation in the January 6th committee was as loyal a Republican soldier as existed. Let’s see, to get her to change lanes, stand up for the truth, was Donald Trump trying to overthrow the government. What is making Manchin go against the Democratic party, there is no equivalent reasoning.

Live in the past at your peril. Haven’t we seen this demonstrated for the last twenty five years, with tech?

And then there’s electric cars. Now all automobile companies, ALL have said they’re going totally electric. Meanwhile, Tesla, with first mover advantage, not only dominates the sphere, but is far ahead technologically and is more valuable than the next eight car companies combined.

But old Joe is defending the fossil fuel industry in his state. Resisting green energy initiatives. This guy needs to be dragged around behind a smoke spewing automobile in a parade. This guy needs to be exposed to his choices. Yes, pollution kills. How come all the kids know this and this ancient creep does not? Oh, he knows it, he’s just voting with his pocket book, and trying to keep his job. Which is what old folks do, put themselves first. And this dude is so compromised he’s not even compromising!

Let’s look at the cost of Manchin’s obstinance.

Health care? Kablooey. National health care is so popular that the Republicans can’t bring it down, now that the public has it, it loves it. But as far as expanding it, Joe’s got his finger in the dike, protecting…exactly who?

Climate… There’s a mustard shortage in France, because the seeds from Canada died because of heat in Alberta, and unfavorable growing conditions in the home country. Evidence of global warming right there. (https://nyti.ms/3yCrn9y)

Taxes? This prick is against raising them for the wealthiest and the corporations. This is something EVERYBODY in America wants other than the rich themselves. This is incredibly popular amongst not only Gen-Z, but the Millennials, now in their thirties, who’ve seen their futures hobbled by these riggers of the financial system. Talk about something popular, that will get you votes. But NO! Joe is siding with the rich!

But where is a Democratic voter in West Virginia supposed to go? It’s either Joe or a Republican. But if someone ran to the left of Joe…

Oh, the seat could be lost!

Boohoo. How could that be worse than what we’ve got now? If you’re not willing to risk, you cannot win.

Incremental change my ass. If we don’t give the rank and file hope, they’re going to disengage from the system, many of them already have. I’m running on fumes, things have been going the wrong way for years. I’d like to sit down with Biden and Schumer, the first thing I’d tell them is GROW A PAIR!

What do you do with bullies? Which is essentially what Manchin is? YOU STAND UP TO THEM! You don’t appease them, try to reason with them, it never works, as they ask for more and more and deliver less and less.

I’d like to look at the news and see a victory for a change, instead of endless losses and wimpy Democrats saying their hands are tied.

Let’s see… Inflation and gas prices. Irrelevant of the truth, Biden owns them, it’s his fault, the Republicans have hammered this and most people are too uneducated to know, never mind understand, the truth.

Guns? How come the Republicans win this endlessly. Hell, propose a Constitutional amendment, who cares if it passes or not, it will demonstrate to the public, which overwhelmingly supports gun control, that they are heard, that something is being tried.

Income inequality? Come on, I feel it. No matter how hard I work, I cannot make the kind of money these Wall Street titans have. Or even the execs following in the footsteps of Jack Welch, overpaid to ruin corporations. Where’s my incentive?

As for those of you licking the boots of the rich, eating the crumbs, believe me, as soon as the winds start blowing in a different direction, as soon as the “benefactors”‘s needs change, you’ll be starving, the crumbs will no longer fall. You’re a slave, you just won’t admit it. Yes, you flew on the private jet, but you couldn’t pick your seat, you had to kiss the ass of the owner… Or you were on their yacht. You’re a patsy. Speak English to these people, see how they react. Behind every great fortune there is a crime. And I’m sure Joe Manchin has committed a few too. How about we look into his finances, his history, to the point where he has to resign. Who’s going to stand up for this mealy-mouthed jerk. He’ll complain, it’s unfair! Too bad! This goes two ways, you mess with us, we mess with you.

How come I know all this and nobody in D.C. does.

This is what happens when you strive for consensus. These proposals date back to the beginning of Biden’s presidency. He should have rammed them through. All this hogwash about Obama spending political capital getting the Affordable Care Act passed at the expense of other initiatives is just that. The Affordable Care Act is his signature piece of legislation, and it helped get him elected to a second term. Biden, if you plan to try to get re-elected, what are you gonna run on? That you’re better than the person on the right? DON’T COUNT ON IT!

And if you follow polls, Trump is fading in the hearts of Republicans every damn day. So I don’t want to hear we must believe in Biden because he beats Trump. Hell, everyone expected Jeb Bush to be the nominee in 2016, but it was Trump. And the January 6th committee may not reach diehard election results deniers, but it’s making inroads every damn day.

I’m not gonna beg Manchin to see the light. I’m gonna offer him a deal he can’t refuse. Either you toe the party line or it’s war. It’s all of us against the single you. Everybody’s got baggage, and everybody can be nailed by it. You’re gonna look bad Joe Manchin. And you’re gonna be squealing like Lindsey Graham once we start putting the pressure on you. Do you want all that? Do you want to sacrifice the entire country to appease your donor base, a limited number of rich people? 

I don’t think so.

This is much easier than it looks.

It’s just that Schumer and Biden have never been in a street fight, they’ve never watched “The Godfather,” they’ve got no idea what is truly going on out there. They can’t handle the truth.

Be afraid Joe Manchin, be very afraid. You’re going to be toppled from your perch. By time we’re done with you you’re going to be crying “uncle,” begging us to keep your job.

It’s all here Democrats. GO FOR IT!