(Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren have come to the White House to discuss the filibuster and the progressive agenda. For once, Harris is not there; she’s at the border working on the immigration “crisis.”)
B: How are my favorite communists today?
S: Workers of the world, unite!
B: That’s the spirit! What can I do for you today?
W: We need to talk about the filibuster.
B: Ah, yes, the filibuster. It made more sense when people didn’t abuse it. I can remember the old days, when we were dealing with Strom and the boys. They were racists, but you could do business with them on other stuff as long as you didn’t cross their red lines.
S: It’s better not to romanticize those days. They were only great for white people.
B: I know. Still, in some respects, they were better. The Republicans weren’t nihilists back then. What do you want me to do?
W: You need to fight, Mr. President. Use the bully pulpit. Go on TV. Force Manchin and Sinema to change their positions.
B: Do you remember what happened when Barack went out in public on issues like this? It only made things worse. Why would things be different for me? Barack was a much better speaker than I am.
S: You can try talking to them privately.
B: I’ve already done that. For now, they’re dug in. They’re going to have to see a lot more GOP malarkey before they change their minds.
W: So where do we go from here?
B: It’s hard, but you’re going to have to be patient. Our system wasn’t designed to move fast. In some ways, you can be grateful for that. Imagine if the roadblocks hadn’t been in place during the Trump years.
S: True. We just need to get something going in the reasonably near future. I’m an old man, if you hadn’t noticed.
B: That makes two of us, if you hadn’t noticed. (They leave)