The Inside Story of Joe Manchin’s Break-up With Joe Biden Exposes a White House out of Control – Opinion

President Joe Biden’s tenuous relationship with Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) is making news again after an inside report has exposed just how out of control the White House is.

In December 2021 negotiations were close to completion on a huge reconciliation bill between Biden & Manchin. The Washington Post reported that Manchin already had agreed to a topline of $1.8 trillion, which was significantly higher than his publicly stated spending caps. Biden and his progressive alliance were well on their way to achieving the majority of what they desired.

An act defiance ignited everything.

It all collapsed, unbelievable!

Two days later, White House aides drafted a statement that named Manchin the center of negotiations. White House aides sent a draft of the statement to Manchin’s office ahead of its release. Manchin’s chief of staff responded by asking the White House legislative director either to remove the senator’s name, or to add Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.).

However, the White House released this statement. He had signed it. But Manchin exploded, texting a senior Biden aide that the decision was “unconscionable and extremely dangerous” at a time when liberal activists were targeting Manchin’s family with protests.

Manchin reaffirmed his opposition to Fox News’ legislation three days later. The negotiations never recovered, and Build Back Better — encompassing years of Democratic policy aspirations to reduce child poverty, transform the nation’s housing system, enact new early education programs, tax the rich, and more — was effectively dead.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy that the president and his staff are imbeciles, but it’s still hard to imagine why they would participate in such an act of self-sabotage. Manchin only asked that he not be mentioned in any statement regarding the negotiations. This was understandable considering the demonstrations taking place, which RedState also reported.

Yet, for reasons I can’t quite grasp, the White House told Manchin to go jump in a lake by releasing the targeted statement anyway. Was that the point? Was there anything they were trying to achieve?

My only conclusion is that the legislative chief pulled the trigger out of spite. It’s no secret that many staffers in the administration despise Manchin. Many of them did not and don’t see Manchin as a good negotiating partner. They also resent the power that he holds by being the final vote in the Senate. It was possible that Manchin thought they were done with things and that Manchin could be taken out on their way out.

Fortunately, it backfired big time, with Manchin ending the process and announcing his opposition to the reconciliation bill, otherwise known as “Build Back Better.” Still, it doesn’t appear anyone inside the White House has learned anything from the incident. According to the Post’s report, they are still in “disbelief” at Manchin’s decision, calling the release of the statement a “miscommunication.”

“It was not like this was the biggest insult in the world,” said Dean Baker, a White House ally who works at the Center for Economic and Policy Research, a left-leaning think tank. “The idea you would have done something good for the country, but instead will not do it because you think someone in the White House may have insulted you is kind of crazy.”

Arrogance is a funny thing, and it’s highly destructive when it’s not checked. It was clear that the fragile nature of negotiations meant that the White House knew this. The White House should also have known that Manchin was feeling left out, and administration officials were regularly taking aim at him publicly. And while the White House didn’t take the threats to Manchin seriously, he obviously did. The White House’s decision to go against Manchin’s wishes was the final straw in an endless string of provocative acts.

All of this leaves the question open as to where Biden actually is. He appears not to be completely dependent on his counsel, and so the administration seems adrift. If he had actually ordered his staff, he would not have allowed this statement to be published. That’s not the setup in the White House, though. Biden plays a passive role while his handlers pursue their goals. It is clear that chaos has resulted, which in this instance greatly helped Republicans.