I’ve repeatedly written about how ridiculous and counterproductive it is for a group of Republicans to be negotiating a bipartisan deal on infrastructure with a Democratic Party that is racing to spend $4.1 trillion. But one argument that defenders of the negotiations have been making to conservatives is that if Republicans agree on a bipartisan deal, moderates such as Senator Joe Manchin will be more likely to oppose the larger Democrats-only $3.5 trillion bill crammed with liberal priorities. But now even that flimsy argument has blown up.

CNN’s Manu Raju reports the following on Manchin pushing for bipartisan talks to continue:

Manchin also pushed back at suggestion that it’s time to pass the $3.5T budget plan if the $1.2 trillion bipartisan deal falls apart.

“I would say that if the bipartisan infrastructure bill falls apart, everything falls apart.”

— Manu Raju (@mkraju) July 26, 2021

Get that? “If the bipartisan infrastructure bill falls apart, everything falls apart.”