There has always been something particularly vexing about Joe Manchin. The West Virginia Democrat, a longtime enemy of the poorest in his own state, has perpetually frustrated anyone attempting to implement economic populism in America.

If you are for it, Manchin is probably against it. Unemployment insurance is too high, a $15 minimum wage is too generous, the stimulus checks can’t be $2,000, though that’s apparently good enough for Donald Trump. In the pockets of the oil and mining interests that have decimated the lands he represents, Manchin is a living caricature of a corroded, compromised Washington, existing to placate his richest donors.

It’s at this point when the Beltway operatives and think tank apparatchiks chime in from the sidelines: Don’t you understand what Manchin’s doing? He represents a state Trump won with almost 70 percent of the vote! He does what he needs to do to survive! Without Manchin, there is no Democratic majority, no $1.9 trillion stimulus, no chance to bolster the welfare state you big city leftists claim to care so much about.