By: Vihaan Majumdar
Kyrsten Sinema is no longer a Democrat. That’s the bombshell news. She has officially left the Democrats to become an independent, shaking up the Senate… wait, actually, it doesn’t, because she will continue to caucus with the Democrats. Time to dive into what might be the most pointless political stunt ever.
First, why did she leave the Democrats? She says it’s so that she can be free to work in the best interests of her constituents—I say it’s for her own security. Her becoming an independent means she can no longer lose a primary, and also stops the Democrats from mounting a challenger should she seek reelection. In other words, she’s saying “you didn’t fire me, I quit first!” and then proceeds to give them a middle finger on the way out, because now, she’s in charge. But you really have to question what her reasoning is. She says she’s one for the people, and yet she’s so much in the middle that both Democrats and Republicans think she belongs in the other party. Let me rephrase: she’s not one for the people. She’s looking out for herself. Let’s start with the fact that she is basically telling the Democrats “if I’m going down, then I’m taking you with me” and is more than willing to hand a seat to the Republicans, despite her absolutely scoffing at the idea of caucusing with them. She’s just proved what people knew already. She’s only looking out for herself.
Also, she really couldn’t just stay out of the spotlight? I get that all politicians like a camera in their face, but she’s taken it to a whole new level. She had gotten enough press coverage as it was, but no—she needed more. Democrats had just expanded their majority, but miss independent over here’s like “screw you, I’m independent now and I’m gonna do what I want,” which is create political madness for absolutely no reason because her decision doesn’t change the Senate makeup at all, nor does it affect how she would vote, considering she was already fiscally a Republican to begin with. Seriously, her leaving the Democrats may very well be more pointless than Tulsi Gabbard’s shock departure, only Gabbard’s announcement was shocking because up until then I had forgotten she existed.
Did she truly accomplish anything? Well, she got attention, as if she didn’t have enough already. But is there anything productive that came out of this?
The answer is no.
