I spoke to Sam Brodey of the Daily Beast about the bipartisan infrastructure bill, former President Trump’s opposition, and why that has seemed to matter more in the House than the Senate.

But House members, who represent smaller, more ideologically polarized constituencies who decide their fates every two years, are more vulnerable than senators to those kinds of pressures. Liam Donovan, a GOP strategist, explained that dynamic magnifies the apparent disparity in Trump influence that’s on display between the House and Senate.

“The House is a majoritarian institution, and both sides play their role accordingly,” said Donovan. “And the politics are reinforced by its structure—you’re always in cycle, answerable to a narrower constituency, and rarely have the opportunity to forge an independent brand you can fall back on.”

Read the full piece here.

I spoke to CNN for a piece on the impact of former President Trump and his endorsement on the 2022 campaign.

“Trump’s presence looms over every race in ways that have a profound effect on the field, eliciting allies and rooting out foes, but the nod is diminished when every Republican is effectively running as a Trump-aligned candidate,” GOP strategist Liam Donovan said.

Read the full piece here.

I spoke with McClatchy‘s Alex Roarty about Democrats’ Manchin problem as they struggle to sort out a strategy to pass major infrastructure legislation.

In coming months, the leader of the Democratic Party must decide whether he can cajole Manchin with a mixture of schmoozing and arm-twisting that eventually convinces the lawmaker to relent — a process that threatens to further delay Biden’s agenda if it fails — or instead capitulate and move on to other issues, a decision that would anger the president’s liberal base and reduce the size and scope of his potential accomplishments. 

Either approach carries risk, political veterans say, in dealing with a lawmaker whose opposition to any legislation can single-handedly stop it from becoming law in an evenly divided Senate.

“We’re all trapped in this choose-your-own-adventure book where Joe Manchin is the narrator, and he’s the only one who knows how this ends,” said Liam Donovan, a Republican lobbyist. “In the meantime, you either roll Manchin or you co-opt him by doing what he wants.”

Read the full piece here.

Amy Wang of the Washington Post quoted a tweet of mine in her piece on the fallout from Joe Manchin’s Sunday op-ed declaring his opposition to S. 1 and affirming his support for the filibuster as currently constituted.

Manchin’s op-ed would allow Republicans to argue that, regardless of a filibuster, the legislation doesn’t have enough Democratic votes to pass the Senate, highlighting a point of intense tension within the Democratic Party.

“Can’t very well blame GOP intransigence/outmoded process if you can’t produce a majority,” former GOP operative Liam Donovan tweeted.

Read the full piece here.

The tweet was also picked up in the Post‘s Daily 202 tipsheet, citing the Wang piece:

As our colleague Amy B Wang reports, Republicans used Manchin’s argument to point out that regardless of a filibuster, the voting rights legislation doesn’t have enough Democratic votes to pass the Senate:

I spoke to CNN‘s Mike Warren about former President Trump’s impending summer rally revival tour, and risk-reward proposition it offers for Republicans.

Others, including Meadows, are looking forward to Trump’s return to the campaign trail due to his unique ability to connect with the party’s grassroots base, according to a person familiar with his thinking.

But Republican leaders hoping for a reliable messenger are ignoring Trump’s nature, said Republican strategist Liam Donovan.”He cares about the party and its fortunes to the extent it furthers his interests, but as a private citizen circa 2022 he has vanishingly little skin in the game,” said Donovan. “Nobody should be surprised that he is more focused on nursing 2020 grudges than helping Republicans win next fall.”

Read the full piece here.