Former West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin has been brutally honest about the ugliness tearing the Democratic Party apart, calling out the leftward lurch and warning that it’s driving voters away. He’s been telling anyone who’ll listen that the party’s internal feuds over the shutdown deal exposed a split between ideology and governing commonsense, and that ordinary Americans are the ones paying the price. Conservatives should stop pretending this is merely “internal drama” and start treating it like the political gift it is.
After more than a month of dysfunction, the Senate finally approved a bipartisan deal to reopen the government, ending the longest shutdown in American history and forcing Democrats to eat the consequences of their paralysis. The measure, pushed across the finish line by a coalition of moderates and Republicans, funds federal operations into January while leaving the thorny health-subsidy fights for later — exactly the kind of stopgap, responsible governance voters want. This was not a triumph for leadership on the left; it was a capitulation by a party that couldn’t keep its squabbling progressives and moderates on the same page.
The spectacle made clear what conservatives have said all along: unchecked ideology fractures governing coalitions and produces chaos. A handful of Democrats broke ranks to vote to reopen the government, while party leaders publicly warned of betrayal and tried to peddle outrage to cover their failure. That disunity isn’t a one-off — it signals a party losing its grip on practical stewardship and choosing virtue-signaling over delivering results to Americans who expect food on the table and flights that depart on time.
Manchin’s critique matters because he isn’t a caricature of the GOP — he’s a blue-state conservative who saw the left’s excesses destroy legislative discipline and practical outcomes. When senior figures like him say the party is “getting worse, not better,” you ignore that at your peril; it’s a warning that the Democrats’ internal radicalism leaves them unable to govern. Conservatives should welcome these admissions and use them to draw a sharper contrast between principle-driven, accountable leadership and chaos dressed up as purity.
The fallout from this shutdown deal will be felt at kitchen tables across America — from disrupted SNAP benefits to uncertainty over health insurance subsidies — and Republicans must keep the pressure on to expose who really ran the country aground. Voters remember who refused to put country over caucus, and conservatives should capitalize on this moment by standing for fiscal responsibility, common-sense governing, and accountability at every level. The Democrats had their chance to lead; they chose infighting. Now it’s up to patriots to remind hardworking Americans who will actually fight for them.
