President Handsome Joe Biden
(undated file photo)

President Handsome Joe Biden had a revelation, according to Tiger Beat on the Potomac (thanks Charlie):

The fever didn’t break. And for the Biden White House, efforts at bipartisanship have finally taken a backseat.

To the frustration of many Democrats and some of his closest advisers, President Joe Biden has steadfastly spent more than a year in office insisting on trying to work across the aisle with Republicans.

It’s produced some notable legislative successes. But it’s also been colored by a fair dose of in-your-face GOP obstructionism. Now, more than a year later, Biden no longer believes that most Republicans will eventually drop their fealty to Donald Trump and show a willingness to engage. He himself admitted he was wrong.

Upchuck Todd is probably having a sad:

Steve Ricchetti, Biden’s senior adviser and the primary liaison with the GOP during the infrastructure talks, told Biden after that infrastructure bill passed that he didn’t think the GOP would bargain anymore. Much of the communications staff, including just-departed press secretary Jen Psaki, advised a more aggressive stance. And first lady Jill Biden told confidants that she was urging her husband to be less scripted and more on the offensive…

Gone was the Senate collegiality. In its place, Biden took to bemoaning the modern day GOP. “This ain’t your father’s Republican Party,” he has said repeatedly, adding that the GOP was “the MAGA party now.”

OK, now do Manchinema.

Just joking.

“There was no single moment that prompted Biden to change course, the people close to him said. But as Republicans attacked his efforts to control surging inflation, the president chose to respond in kind. … Privately, Biden has expressed frustration with media coverage of his administration and believes that the press — and Americans at large — have been too quick to gloss over the damage Trump did to the country. He also has taken to telling aides that he no longer recognizes the GOP, which he now views as an existential threat to the nation’s democracy.”

Getting stuff done is what is important. No one except politics nerds remembers what the vote totals are, and clearly at best bipartisan overtures are a delaying tactic if not an outright smothering of a bill in its crib. Quit wasting time negotiating with people who negotiate in bad faith. Time for sharp elbows and words.

This is a good break through. It took Obama well into his second term before he realized that we were dealing with Fox News-organized, domestic terrorists.