Ryan Grim on the End of the Spending Bill Show

*We did Idiots Live this week instead of the Four Food Groups. Check it out on youtube*

“We're at the beginning of the fourth quarter.”

This is what The Intercept’s D.C. Bureau Chief Ryan Grim predicts for the play unfolding in Washington: Will Biden get his bill passed?

He analyzes the major players.

The Dems. 48 of them want a bill that has free college and a whole bunch of other Sandersian provisions. This really confuses us after they spent the last two elections trying to bury Bernie and his ideas. Grim explains:

'“Hugo Chavez had this funny quote, ‘I saw a revolution coming and it was either going to wipe me out or I was going to carry out a revolution. So I figured I'd rather carry out a revolution.’” Maybe the Dems realized they were falling behind, so they (conveniently) changed their principles.

The Villains. Manchin and Sinema. Do they really oppose the bill or are they just cast as the foils for the Dems who don’t really want to pass their own bill?

The Republicans. Or are the Villains serious? Could Sinema switch to the Republican party? Will Manchin really defy Biden’s angry tirade:

“Joe, you're going to take my fucking bill down. You're going to destroy my fucking presidency.”

We’re closing in on the end of the infrastructure and spending bill saga. Maybe we’ll finally get some answers (and get to talk about something else.)

Plus, Ryan talks the two Useful Idiots unfairly stuck in prison, Assange and Donziger.

It’s all this, and more, on this week’s episode of Useful Idiots.