It seems McConnell and his fellow Republicans were played for chumps; unless they weren't

so here’s the deal

The Wall Street Journal reports on the Schumer-Manchin deal, and here’s the money quote, literally:

The announcement came at an opportune time for Democrats, just hours after the Senate approved a bipartisan semiconductor and technology package that proponents cast as critical to national security. Republicans had threatened to block that bill if Democrats moved ahead with a climate and tax bill, which they, like many Democrats, thought was dead. With the chips bill passed, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) lost a major form of leverage over Mr. Biden’s domestic agenda.

Did McConnell carelessly give away the hostage he was holding, the $250 billion CHIPS boondoggle, by agreeing to pass it before Schumer had agreed to drop his Green Energy and tax increase bill? It’s far more likely that he, like Minchin, struck a deal with Schumer weeks ago: the bi-partisan CHIPS deal that Republicans could vote for because it shovels money to their’ favorite lobbyists, would go first, and then Schumer would go the budget resolution route to pass another $433 billion cash grab, no Republican votes required. This way, McConnell and his band of fraudsters can publicly vote against the “government waste” their voters don’t like, while the Democrats can show their voters that, by golly, they were doing something!. Net-net, a fresh $700 billion, to be split by both parties to dish out as they see fit.

So either the fix was in all along, or Minchin and Schumer came up with a strategy: Minchin would pretend to be against the Green Energy bill, and gull McConnell into believing it was dead, and then, when McConnell went ahead and let the Chips bill go forward, immediately switch sides and agree to provide the missing 50th vote for the green Energy bill. Could McConnell, a sly, experienced southern politician, really be nave enough to be taken in by a West Virginian hillbilly and a sharp New York Democrat? I’ll take door number one.