As RedState’s streiff reported earlier today (see Eight Democrat Senators Crossed Over to Kill the Economy Killing $15/hr Minimum Wage), the Democrats’ gambit to shove a minimum wage hike into the current COVID relief bill has failed. Aside from being terrible policy, there was no justification at all for including a non-budgetary motion into a reconciliation bill.

Nancy Pelosi’s weak, cynical attempt crashed and burned at the hands of eight Democrat crossovers.

The roadblock was a little known apparatchik in the US Senate, Ellen McDonough, the Senate Parliamentarian. She ruled that the plan to include the minimum wage hike in the China virus porkulus “relief” bill did not meet Senate rules and could not be included.

Not to be deterred, the neo-commie faction led by Bernie Sanders pushed for a vote, the so-called “nuclear option,” to overturn the ruling of the parliamentarian by simple majority vote. In what is a sign of hope for the future, that vote failed.

One Democrat made especially big waves with her vote, though. Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema not only voted no, she did so in what has become a viral moment (see below for the clip), with her presenting a forceful thumbs down to show her disapproval. Reports are that she also brought a chocolate cake to work, just to troll a little harder.

Sinema just walked into the Senate carrying a large chocolate cake

— Igor Bobic (@igorbobic) March 5, 2021

You’ll probably get the reference. Regardless, that caused a great triggering on the left.

Senator Sinema facing some TOUGH choices pic.twitter.com/1lGRkIfJie

— RootsAction (@Roots_Action) March 5, 2021

She’s decided she’s going to be a media darling as Marie Antoinette of the establishment. Dress in a super fun way, do performatively hip thumbs downs as she votes to kill higher wages & now rub it in with symbolic cake we can all eat instead of higher salaries. #CorporateTool https://t.co/IvbzF7NfOj

— Cenk Uygur (@cenkuygur) March 5, 2021

Sucks to suck, doesn’t it? I remember when the left were extremely enthralled with politicians who did a performative thumbs down while killing their own party’s priorities. John McCain did the same thing to kill an overturning of Obamacare. Cenk Uygur didn’t get upset about that, though.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a true triggering without some death threats thrown in.

Does the senate not know Marie Antoinette was beheaded??? Ferb get the guillotine

— lindsey (@LindseyMathieu) March 5, 2021

The reality is that a minimum wage hike is an awful idea. We are in an economy right now that is still short 9.5 million jobs from this time last year. The pandemic has taken out countless numbers of small businesses, and there are that many more holding on for dear life. Mandating a federal minimum wage hike would essentially wipe out many remaining local businesses. Further, even the CBO, which has never been shy about massaging the numbers (i.e. on Obamacare) to make Democrat priorities seem viable, admitted that 1.3 million people would be put out of work. As the saying goes, the real minimum wage is zero.

That may not mean anything to Bernie Sanders, Cenk Uyghur, or any number of deranged social media users, but it should mean something to people with any ability to think critically. Given the diversity of our economy, including wild differences in cost of living, there is no justification at all to mandate a wage at the federal level, much less one that is $15/hr. You can’t feed one’s kids with good intentions.