Senate Democrats are trying to push Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) into voting to weaken the filibuster so that Democrats can pass voting rights legislation, after the senator from West Virginia on Jan. 4 rejected a strategy that would allow his party to work around Republican opposition to the measure. In a statement on his Twitter account on Jan. 3, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) attempted to tie GOP opposition to federal election bills to “domestic extremists” who, Schumer contended, tried to “destroy our Republic” in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol breach. “Domestic violent extremists sought to inflict chaos and violence. Fueled by conspiracy and the ravings of a vengeful former President, they sought to destroy our Republic,” Schumer told his Senate Democratic colleagues in a Dear Colleague letter. Hoping to nullify the opposition of all 50 Republican senators to the legislation, Schumer proposed that Democrats use the “nuclear option,” which …