Report on Reconciliation Confirms Joe Manchin Is a Pathetic Coward – Opinion

A confession I must make is that I used to respect Sen. Joe Manchin, West Virginia.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve always known he’s a flakey Democrat, and though it’s been fun to entertain him possibly switching parties and causing a meltdown on the left, those hopes were always far-fetched. However, his stand over the last 12 months against a green fraud-filled reconciliation bill, was commendable. Even in the face of intense pressure, including personal harassment and threats, Manchin stood firm – until he didn’t.

Manchin suddenly reversed the decision and attacked Republicans. Despite assurances that if the GOP voted for the CHIPS Act that the West Virginia senator wouldn’t support another gut-busting spending bill, Manchin came in off the top rope to announce he and Schumer had made a deal. It was what? $400 billion in wasteful spending on “climate change” initiatives. This includes corporate tax increases that will increase inflation.

People in politics struggled for days to understand what made Manchin change his mind. A new report from The Washington Post gives us the answer, and the short of it is that he’s a pathetic coward.

All New @TonyRomm https://t.co/owtHMVVc1d pic.twitter.com/JlQVBWoKHO

— Jeff Stein (@JStein_WaPo) July 30, 2022

Here’s the money-shot from the Post article.

“There are folks in our party who are saying all sorts of terrible things about you, who believe you were stringing us along for a year and that you were never going to come to a deal because of your state or because of your conflicts of interest,” a source recalled Coons saying. The comment appeared to reference long-standing concerns about Manchin’s ties to the coal industry.

Coons then told Manchin: “I can’t think of a better way for you to prove them all wrong than to sign off on a bold climate deal. Prove every critic wrong.”

Manchin thought about it for a second. The source stated, then responded, “It would be like hitting a homer in the bottom of the ninth, wouldn’t it?”

You can’t do anything but shake your head at that excerpt. Sen. Chris Coons actually went to Manchin citing his “conflicts of interest” with the coal industry, something you’d think would be insulting. Coons told Manchin that if his mind changes on reconciliation, then the people who had treated him like garbage the previous year will be able to love him. Manchin chose to lose any dignity and accept that, rather than trying to keep it. It took him just a couple of hours to change his mind on the plane trip to Europe.

What does Manchin think of the public display of his Beta-esque rationale for reverse engineering himself? Honestly, I don’t really care. He deserves the scorn he’s been getting and will continue to get. Additionally, I hope that the far left continues to support him. Unlike in the past, he won’t have Republicans on his side to defend him. It’s time to let Manchin suffer the consequences of his actions by enjoying his new friends.

Let me get back to the original confession. I want to apologize for ever believing Manchin could be trusted to be anything more than the weasel that he’s always been. It was my mistake. I thought it was safe to take him at his word after he nuked “Build Back Better,” but it obviously wasn’t. Now, it’s up to West Virginians to end this guy’s career. It’s enough. He’s not moderate and he’s not your friend. He’s just another Washington apparatchik operating as a pawn for the Democrat Party.