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Ad will collapse in seconds CLOSE August 18, 2017 08/18/2017 6:28 pm By Ed Kilgore Share

With Stephen Bannons departure from the White House dominating the news today, a lot of political observers may have missed a story that appeared to show a machiavellian White House scheme falling flat:

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) is quashing speculation that hell leave the Senate to become President Trumps Energy secretary.

The Democratic senator, who is facing a tough 2018 reelection bid, said at a town hall that he would not be jumping to the Trump administration.

Observers who can remember all the way back to the beginning of the Trump administration (a long time in Twitter years) may recall Manchins name came up for the Energy gig during the transition. But he was passed over for former Texas Gov. Rick Perry. The Manchin talk didnt even continue long enough for it to become clear whether the West Virginian was interested.

But three unrelated developments revived it, at least in the media: the failure of Senate Republicans to enact health care legislation; the resignation of Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly to become White House Chief of Staff; and a party-switch by previously Democratic West Virginia governor Jim Justice.

It was pretty easy to design a razzle-dazzle play that would get Republicans a health care bill, and sure enough, it was reported at Bloomberg as a work in progress:

Some White House and Republican officials are exploring the idea of putting West Virginia Democratic Senator Joe Manchin in charge of the Energy Department, according to four people familiar with the discussions, a move that could boost President Donald Trumps stalled legislative agenda.

If Manchin were offered and accepted the position, that would allow West Virginias Governor Jim Justice a newly minted Republican to appoint a GOP successor and bring the party a vote closer in the Senate to being able to repeal Obamacare.

For this to transpire, of course, Rick Perry would have to agree to give up Energy for Homeland Security, and he quickly made noises that he was happy right where he was. Media folk pointed out that Perry and Trump had not exactly seen eye to eye on immigration enforcement in the past. And others fretted about the precision timing required to get Manchin confirmed and areliable vote for skinny repeal sworn into the Senate.

In the end, its not clear if Perry balked, or Manchin passed, or Justice wanted to appoint himself to the hypothetical open seat, or if the whole thing was a Republican fantasy from the get-go. But this particular game of musical chairs ended before it began.

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The departure of Trumps nationalist id, Steve Bannon, after a week in which he alienated other allies, will only increase attacks on the White House.

Another Trump ally is gone.

While Bannons rivals in the administration will be happy to see him go, he could cause the White House immense problems as a free agent.

A rumored game of musical chairs had Perry going to DHS, Manchin to Energy, and a West Virginia Republican to the Senate. But in the end nobody moved.

We definitely didnt recycle a video about Anthony Scaramucci.

Sebastian Gorka and Julia Hahn could be the next staffers on their way out of the White House.

Bollards, strategically deployed, can foil terrorist techniques.

President Trumps controversial senior strategist is planning his next act.

A strategists one brilliant insight had become obsolete.

Under President Trump, infrastructure cant catch a break.

The 2012 GOP nominee unambiguously condemns Trumps remarks about Charlottesville and calls for an extremely unlikely retraction and apology.

The First Lady reportedly operates her Twitter account herself.

In 2017 alone, there have been at least nine such attacks around the world, resulting in nearly 40 deaths.

Its a pretty long list.

He is, if nothing else, a genius at playing to Americas most alarming tendencies.

The carbon tax actually stands a better chance of happening now than ever before.

Mattis and Tillerson tried to clean up after his gaffe. But despite Trumps bluster, opening fire would be catastrophic.

Attackers plowed into crowds in Barcelona and Cambrils in Spains worst attack in a more than a decade.

The 21st Century Fox CEO and son of Rupert Murdoch says Trumps reaction was concerning.

Republicans need the president to focus on their daunting fall agenda, not stirring up a new controversy.

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Scheme To Get Republicans a 53d Senate Seat Collapses As Manchin Stays Put - New York Magazine