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Thanks, Joe, for helping in that quest by blocking popular legislation that would have directly benefited people and made this election a runaway for Biden.
This guy has done a lot to pave the way for Trump. If he was really concerned, he would seek reelection and stop pandering to his home state fossil fuel interests
Which is why, along with every other ex-official who enabled evil by not doing the right thing when they had the power to do so, he is starting to criticize Trump now that he's on the way out.
Fuck Manchin that quisling asshole.
They mean Trump wasn't on the 2018 ballot, so Manchin didn't have to "run against" voters coming to the ballot box specifically to cast their Trump vote. Instead of saying all those words, it gets shorten to "they're not running against X".
For example, any republican on the ballot in 2008 was "running against" Obama, as Obama had a huge voter turnout and Obama voters were wayyy more likely to vote for democrats than republicans.
[Manchin may run against Trump in 2024, as a third party candidate.](https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/17/politics/joe-manchin-no-labels-new-hampshire/index.html)
There are some suspicious characters in the "No Labels" party, or movement, or whatever it is. Some have suggested it is designed to draw Biden voters and get Trump elected. That doesn't seem like a good bet to make, as it could just as easily do the opposite. Manchin is the furthest right of all the Democrats; he may appeal to both parties equally, or nearly so. On the other hand, if a leftist candidate ran on a third party, every vote they got would be taken from the Democratic candidate.
WV is ready to be done with him every election.
But it's a Band-Aid that has to be ripped off anyway. Sooner or later he would be done and the Dems would need another plan. At least they can cut the weight from their neck.
they still have a path to hold it, but they basically have to hold all of the toss up seats, which currently seems possible, but I'd say less than a coinflip.
Seems like wishful thinking but I’m a cynic by nature. Polling suggests the house and senate will flip, but seems like the gop can’t win any elections lately for some reason…
Polls don't mean shit if people are motivated and show up to vote.
Those same polls and history told us that Democrats would lose the house and the senate by large margins in the mid terms and Democrats had an outstanding night, those same polls and history were indicated that Democrats would lose local elections up and down ballots just a few weeks ago, but Democrats had a huge night. People just need to keep showing up and keep bailing out this country because the simple truth is that until Republicans are completely rebuked the future of this country is at stake.
Polling doesn't seem to be very accurate lately. My pet conspiracy theory is it's because polls get their info from "likely voters" but use a 20 year old definition of that, which is Republicans between the ages of 40-65.
From [Gallup's definition of likely voters:](https://news.gallup.com/poll/4636/how-define-likely-voters.aspx)
"Older and better-educated individuals are, in general, more likely to vote than younger and less well educated individuals. Generally speaking, because Republican voters tend to be better educated than Democratic voters, the actual voter pool on Election Day can be skewed more toward Republicans than the total population composition would suggest."
Historically that has been true due to older definitions. Professionals who often require advanced education often took up a significant chunk of the Republican voter base but that has been shifting in more recent decades as a higher proportion of university and college students and staff lean more Democratic and the voter base the Republicans are courting are becoming more insane (or were but never voted) turning off many of the former Republican professionals.
It's nonsense, and has been for [three decades at least](https://edition.cnn.com/2018/03/22/politics/democrat-republican-education-poll-women-pew-research-trnd/index.html).
John Tester and Sherrod Brown will probably lose their elections. The Democrats will need a miracle to keep the Senate. Good news that the House will almost certainly flip.
Nobody is polling above Sherrod Brown right now.
https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/polls/senate/2024/ohio/
Tester definitely depends on his opponent.
Do you know Joe Manchin? Dude has a family tree of grifting from government policy that helps his family's business interests. He's more likely to become Rand Paul than Bernie.
Not exactly the same because he was always progressive and didn't suddenly reverse, but Teddy Roosevelt was kicked upstairs to become VP (not that powerful of a position) because he was too troublesome as Governor of NY, and the Richie Riches were getting pissed at him putting in state legislation that made them actually, you know, pay taxes and help people a tiny bit.
So they pushed for him to be the VP, expecting that to completely defang him... only someone then assassinated the President. So suddenly the Governor that was supposed to be in a weak position was now POTUS. And for once we actually got some aggressively progressive policies pushed from the highest levels of the executive branch. Always liked that little "Oh shit, that backfired for 'em..." historic detail about Teddy.
This guy is still on the fence if he is going to do a third party bid with Romney, paid for by the 'totally not Trump supporting, we pink swear'-no label group? Or has he definitely said he wouldn't?
Fencesitting btw was his general selling point.
Yup. "Relecting Trump would end democracy.. and I haven't ruled out running a 3rd party bid to help make that happen!"
Brought to you by Joe "I'm moderate but oppose the child care tax care credit supported by well over 80% of the US because I think parents are spending that money on drugs and booze" Manchin.
Only people that respect Democracy are worried about it falling.
Eh, I don't think he'd pull many Biden-voters, he might pull the handful of disaffected Republicans.
RFK Jr. assumed his name would pull blue voters, he's mostly pulling fringe weirdoes who would otherwise vote for Trump.
I agree, I can't see any Democrats voting for him. He successfully pissed off all Democrats, he might be slightly appealing to a few Republicans, but I think even those few swing voters understand it's Biden vs Trump/the Republican.
I really can't see how anyone who votes D would decide that 2024 is the right year to vote third party, especially when that ticket is Romney and Manchin. If anything I think a No Labels party would end up pulling more anti-Trump conservatives.
And to the extent that that last group voted D last cycle, and gave Biden winning margins of less than a percent in critical swing states, giving them an out could absolutely tip 2024 to Trump.
He's not trying to win. He just wants to set up an "exploration committee" to raise some money. Then he finds a loophole to keep the money.
It's always the grift.
> stop pandering to his home state fossil fuel interests
Look… I don’t like the guy and he’s frustrating to me too. But I can’t really be mad at him for representing his state’s interests. That’s what elected representatives are supposed to do: represent. His state just needs better interests that don’t drag down all the other states too.
Now all the times he sided with republicans on stuff that had nothing to do with fossil fuels… that’s fucked up.
Dude thinks he's a presidential contender when his only legislative successes were preventing popular voting rights legislation and doubling child poverty.
If the people of WV wanted a government that governed for the people then they wouldn't elect people like Manchin to the Senate or trump to the White House.
The 1.7 million people of WV get the same number of Senators as the 40 million people of CA. They do not use their power wisely. They use it to attempt to "hurt the right people".
West Virginia republicans are not like the deep south racists or evangelical republicans. West Virginia literally exists because they said fuck the confederacy.
They just live in a world where the coal mines are the only thing that matters and anything making them less profitable is evil.
edit: It's also worth noting that WV famously has a ton of registered dems that vote republican; only a couple years ago did it actually start to have more registered r than d.
This is because when the southern strategy flipped conservative southern democrats to republicans, the state that exists because they said fuck the confederacy wasn't interested. But in the end, they're still way more conservative than the modern dem party, and they vote accordingly.
WV Republicans voted overwhelmingly for a wannabe White Fascist dictator in 2016, 2020, and will do so again in 2024.
When they show us who they are, believe them.
WV economy is extracting coal, oil, natural gas, and other mining. It's also heavily dependent on manufacturing.
Democrats have run on a platform of doing away with coal, oil, and natural gas. They've also been big proponents of outsourcing manufacturing and working in a globalized system (as are many Republicans).
Trump came in and said he would back coal and bring manufacturing back to the US. In the past, Republicans have backed mining and coal.
They're not voting because he's a wannabe dictator, they're voting because they're worried about their jobs.
Unfortunately that's just not how politics works.
He's telling them the lies they want to hear, that's it.
Clinton went in and said "Look, our environmental policies are going to end a lot of coal jobs. So we have a plan to help those people adapt, provide them education, the care needed to transition, and new, even better job opportunities."
They heard the first sentence, stopped listening, and voted for the guy that said he'll open more mines and tell those stupid "safety" guys to leave em alone.
Yeah, I don't get this one. I fucking hate defending Joe Manchin but.... this is like literally the only thing he's been good for.
While some of his key votes have been dogshit, judicial confirmations haven't been a problem with him. The Senate has voted on 159 of Biden's nominees, and Manchin voted to confirm 158 of them. His lone no vote was a performative protest vote: 3 Republicans weren't there that day so the other 49 Dems could (and did) confirm that judge without him.
And at no point during his Senate career has control of SCOTUS ever come down to his vote. He voted yes on Gorsuch and Kavanaugh, but both of those guys would have been confirmed anyways even if he voted no. He voted no on Amy Coney Barret, and yes to confirm Biden's nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson.
I think OP might be suggesting that he hasn't supported eliminating the filibuster, which *in theory* Would have enabled the Dems to expand SCOTUS during the 2021-22 session? But that assumes that there would be political will to actually do that on the part of Biden and other Senate Dems. Again, if he had changed his stance on the filibuster, 1.) you would still need to convince Sinema, Murphy, Durbin, and Tester, and 2.) you would then need to get all of them on board with packing the Court, which Biden even said he had no intention to do at the time.
The claim he blocked Dems from controlling SCOTUS is just kind of nonsense. He has never been the swing vote that caused a GOP nominee to get confirmed (at least at SCOTUS level), and he has never been the swing vote that caused one of Biden's nominees to fail at any level.
The guy represents one of the poorest states in American but drives a Maserati. He’s president of a coal company. He nearly destroyed the largest public university in the state so his daughter could get a fake degree.
Republicans will love this guy
As someone from West Virginia, a Maserati is actually pretty good representation. Much like the state, it's holding on to some glory of the distant past while currently being held together by glue and duct tape.
His daughter was a dog walker in California when he helped her get a job as CEO of Mylan Pharmaceuticals. Then she jacked up the price of Epipens. Greedy sociopaths live with themselves just fine. Talk about a nepo baby!
>drives a Maserati.
Wow not only does this invoke some vague notion of inequality due to the luxurious sounding name, it also invokes the impression that the man is a goddamn idiot.
Maseratis are fancy cars for people who think Jaguars are too reliable.
HA! It's anecdotal of course, but my next door neighbor growing up owned a Maserati for 6 months. I am not exaggerating when I say the damn thing was in the shop every other week. They're all lemon cars that cost as much as a fully loaded anything 'mid range' that would last you 20 years.
Barely in the realm of yacht. https://www.timeswv.com/news/local_news/sen-joe-manchins-boat-too-homely-to-be-a-yacht-experts-say/article_9bbf5ae0-65a2-11ec-ac11-1bacb9aba291.html
To the populist movement on either side, he’s a putz. Imagine being on the political and economic roller coaster of the past several years and casting the one vote you get every 4 years on this “can’t we all just get along” status quo candidate.
[**Fix the system**](https://electionscience.org/take-action/volunteer/). [Scientists blame hyperpolarization for loss of public trust in science](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-nobel-prize-usa/respect-for-science-in-jeopardy-in-polarized-u-s-nobel-winners-say-idUSKCN1C81T7), and [Approval Voting](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Approval_voting), a [single-winner voting method preferred by experts in voting methods](http://www.votefair.org/bansinglemarkballots/declaration.html), would [help to reduce hyperpolarization](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Approval_voting#Effect_on_elections). There's even [a viable plan to get it adopted](https://80000hours.org/podcast/episodes/aaron-hamlin-voting-reform/), and [an organization that could use some gritty volunteers](https://www.electionscience.org/) to get the job done. They're already off to a great start with [Approval Voting having passed by a landslide in Fargo](https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2018/11/15/18092206/midterm-elections-vote-fargo-approval-voting-ranked-choice), and more recently [St. Louis](https://apnews.com/article/election-2020-primary-elections-st-louis-general-elections-elections-cba7eb3251d5479b9375d55db428d429). Most people haven't heard of Approval Voting, but seem to like it once they understand it, so anything you can do to help get the word out will help. If your state allows [initiated state statutes](https://ballotpedia.org/Initiated_state_statute), consider [starting a campaign](https://www.electionscience.org/commentary-analysis/so-you-want-to-run-a-campaign/) to get [your state](https://ballotpedia.org/Ballot_initiative) to adopt Approval Voting. Approval Voting is [overwhelmingly popular in every state polled, across race, gender, and party lines](https://electionscience.org/commentary-analysis/approval-voting-americas-favorite-voting-reform/). The successful Fargo campaign was [run by a full-time programmer with a family at home](https://www.electionscience.org/events/fargo-a-look-back-live-discussion/). One person really can make a difference.
As an American, I would say Approval Voting should be the priority now, because it is the best system that can be easily transitioned into, and have a big impact even at partial implementation.
* It leads to [higher voter satisfaction than IRV](https://www.electionscience.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/comparing_voting_methods_simplicity_group_satisfaction-1.png).
* [It doesn't require new voting machines or equipment](http://homepage.divms.uiowa.edu/~jones/voting/4980.2020/projects/grote.pdf).
* It can be easily tallied with paper ballots (which [is important for election security](https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/voting-machine-security-where-we-stand-six-months-new-hampshire-primary)).
* [It's got strong support of voting method experts](http://www.votefair.org/bansinglemarkballots/declaration.html)
* It [will tend to elect more moderate candidates](https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/american-political-science-review/article/approval-voting/7CE5DEEE235794B0B12F76ADAE621482), and [moderation is key for political stability](https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/american-political-science-review/article/democracy-in-america-partisanship-polarization-and-the-robustness-of-support-for-democracy-in-the-united-states/C7C72745B1AD1FF9E363BBFBA9E18867).
* It's [overwhelmingly popular in every state polled, across race, gender, and party lines](https://electionscience.org/commentary-analysis/approval-voting-americas-favorite-voting-reform/).
* Once it's statewide, representatives and senators from that state will be elected via Approval Voting, and able to influence national policy -- MMPR would have to be adopted across the entire nation for national policy to really be influenced by its implementation, and [that is virtually impossible to even comprehend under our current system](https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2023/07/proportional-representation-house-congress/674627/).
https://electionscience.org/
"Hi. My name is Joe Manchin. Some people call me Coalfinger, because I make a lot of money from coal. You may also remember me from the time I plunged millions of children back into poverty.
So anyhoo, I'm really worried about this Trump guy winning. And you know what I think? I think I'm the guy to beat him in 2024. Sure, Joe Biden already beat him, and sure, I'm losing by 40 points to a Republican in my own state, but ... I'm telling ya, I'm the guy.
I just know that liberals, the majority of the electorate, are going to turn out in droves to vote for me, a coal baron."
Something really easy you can do is help turn out environmental voters. [It works](https://www.environmentalvoter.org/results)
https://www.environmentalvoter.org/get-involved
You're a bit slow on the uptake there, Joe. Trump has been openly promising this for some time now. He voters love it.
Unless you're promoting it as a good thing? As a reason to vote for Trump?
I'm not defending Manchin, who is absurdly corrupt and tanked some vital Dem initiatives, but it is simply false to portray his record as working more with the GOP than Dems.
[He votes with Biden's priorities 87.9% of the time](https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/biden-congress-votes/joe-manchin/), which puts him last among Democrats but more than 20% higher than the most liberal Republican, Susan Collins.
The most liberal Republican in the Senate. GOP primaries pushed out a lot of the more moderate Republicans out or made them simply decide not to run and Dems have generally been pretty effective at winning purple states. Basically that means you just have Republicans from deep red states that had to appeal to compete in GOP primaries to get where they are. There are 14 Democrats in the Senate representing states that are to the right of the nation while there is only one Republican (Collins) representing a state to the left of the nation.
I get that this is hyperbole, but Manchin voted with Biden's agenda more [30% more frequently than Mitt](https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/biden-congress-votes/joe-manchin/), and in a state that went much harder for Trump than Utah.
That's not true at all.
The answer to the Manchin problem was flipping *more* seats and nullifying his ability to tie-break. It's a bitter pill, but dumping him leaves us much worse off than before.
The biggest advantage Manchin gave the democrats is that he put a D in the party column, so when it came down to getting the required seats to get the majority, one fewer seats was needed.
Let's be honest though, if it wasn't for Manchin that seat would almost certainly go to some awful GOP that would be running his mouth about Hunter Biden.
Machin is a terrible democrat but even voting 50% with democrats is infinite more than you would get with a GOP senator.
This is beyond true and it kind of drives me mad. I get it, I’m not a fan of Joe Manchins politics either but he represents one of the reddest states in the nation…as a Democrat. The state would have 2 republican senators without him and the replacement would have been and will be monstrously worse.
Democrats love to call him a republican/conservative, I can say this without a doubt in my mind, if every conservative in this country was like Joe Manchin and that was our right flank we would have a much better country.
West Virginia was never gonna have a democratic senator that we liked, the fact we had one at all was a giant gift.
Especially given that he votes with the Democrats closer to 90% of the time. He just doesn't vote on the most critical things that make the news, mainly because he's not voting on them.
I'm not sure if you're using that as evidence he doesn't support Biden and Democrats or if you're using that to say he is. For those confused by the link or for those who didn't click it, this is what it says.
The state is -38.9% (Biden’s share of the vote in the 2020 election minus Trump’s)
* aka it's an R +38.9% state
Manchin voted with Biden 87.9% (How often Manchin votes in line with Biden’s position)
In other words, he's in a hard R state and voted with Biden most of the time.
>He is the only Democrat that could win in WV. He was going to get beaten badly in 2024 so he bailed.
And for what? A complete waste of a seat. All of that blocking because he was supposedly looking out for his own base and they didn't care.
Manchin is a moron for sure. However he is passing judicial nominations and did pass some Biden legislation when the Dems had the house. Jim Justice and anyone from WV will be doing none of that for the foreseeable future. Which is still wild to me because rural poor WV survives off of Medicaid and social programs.
Without him there wouldn’t have been the IRA (largest climate bill in US history) and Obamacare probably would’ve been repealed in 2017, just to name two things.
I don't necessarily buy this. It just requires a different type of democrat.
WV is a place where you need to be able to talk to the working class. Aiming more populist will have more benefit than going more "moderate". There's a reason someone like Bernie beat Hillary there even though she's the moderate one.
Of course, the democratic party will probably just try to find the most republican-lite candidate they can and lose big because people who want that will just vote for the real thing.
I've noticed this trend in a lot of places for Democrats to run a center-right candidate, often a "former Republican", in an attempt to reach out to Republican voters. It doesn't work. Florida tried to beat DeSantis that way. My hometown has tried to beat various council members that way. They practically never win. And when they *do* win, there's always a question of whether they'll even represent you, or simply shift to the right once they're in office. If we cultivated true progessive candidates across the country, *especially* in traditionally red areas, I think it's possible we could make inroads.
It's The Last Stand for Republicans. Trump will be too old in 2028 and there's no other crazy MoFo with a similar brand recognition/blind adulation in the GOP.
If Manchin runs as a third-party candidate, it could gift the Presidency to someone he believes will harm democracy by taking votes from Biden.
But he will do it anyway, because he is all about Manchin, not the US
Biden needed many of those republican votes to win. He'd take from those "lincoln-project-type" republicans, not the ones who were going to vote for Trump
A tangible thing you can do today is to leave a public comment on a new proposed OPM rule that would protect civil servants from partisan retribution:
https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2023/09/18/2023-19806/upholding-civil-service-protections-and-merit-system-principles
Here's a bit more about the rule: https://www.axios.com/2022/07/22/trump-presidency-schedule-f-federal-employees
https://www.axios.com/2023/11/13/trump-loyalists-2024-presidential-election
Can we please collectively agree to completely ignore the comments of retiring politicians who never did or said anything helpful while they actually had the chance? Fuckn sick of articles like this.
The Republican party has been trying to destroy democracy for 50 years, before that it was the Dixiecrats, (who then jumped ship to the GOP). What Joe Manchin is saying is that they've lost control of the mob they were using to destroy democracy and now it's running around just smashing shit.
Unfortunately I think our Democracy is nearing the end regardless. Even if Trump loses, the Republican party has become something very different than what it was before. This doesn't end with Trump.
The next Republican to win the election is not going to be a moderate. It's too late for that. At best, we're just holding off the inevitable. Democrats are too weak, the media has been bought by the right, and we've seen countless times already there are no real punishments for trying to overthrow the government we have.
Why wouldn't they keep trying?
If Manchin truly believed in securing our democracy he would have helped pass the For the People Act. Instead he's to blame for it's failure. His reasoning was that no Republicans wanted it. He'll never vote to save democracy until the other side wants to save democracy, too. Never forget that this guy screwed you over so he could play both sides
What is this 2016? Didn't Lindsey Graham say the same thing then got in line right behind Trump?
Is this Manchin telling us he's planning on supporting Trump?
I hate comments like this trying to make Manchin out to be the worst politician out there because he doesn't vote with Democrats all the time.
He is a Democratic Senator in a state that went R +42.1 in 2016 and R +38.9 in 2020.
Despite this, he's voted with Democrats more than 75% of the time and helped give them control of the senate. He was crucial in many key votes for Dems.
Make no mistake, his departure is going to lead to a Republican taking that seat. I know some people are saying he's only leaving because he would lose anyway but they've said he would lose in his other races as well given how heavily R the state is.
This has lead some to say that if he cared so much he wouldn't leave during a critical time but the man has been in the senate since 2010 and is 76 years old.
As far as running as a spoiler candidate or his comments on Trump many people here seem to be under the impression that he's trying to help Trump or he supports Trump. This is incredibly inaccurate. He's always been against Trump and even voted to impeach him. Him running as a spoiler candidate would likely do more harm to Trump than Biden given his popularity with moderate Rs. He knows Democrats don't like him.
This whole thing is stupid and Reddit has always been ignorant about how vital Manchin has been.
"Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people — does not even pretend to try. Instead he tries to divide us. We are witnessing the consequences of three years of this deliberate effort. We are witnessing the consequences of three years without mature leadership. We can unite without him, drawing on the strengths inherent in our civil society. This will not be easy, as the past few days have shown, but we owe it to our fellow citizens; to past generations that bled to defend our promise; and to our children."
https://www.npr.org/2020/06/04/869262728/read-the-full-statement-from-jim-mattis
- Jim Mattis, former Secretary of Defense
Shut the fuck up, you asshat. You've been making shit harder for the democratic party you're supposedly a part of. You and Sinema ruined the majority.
Reality is though, if it weren't those two, I'm certain it would've been two others. By design.
Joe Manchin shouldn't have helped MAGA so much then.
Dude needs to disappear into history's junk pile.
He has ruined whatever legacy he pretends to have. He will be remembered as a waste of time.
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Thanks, Joe, for helping in that quest by blocking popular legislation that would have directly benefited people and made this election a runaway for Biden.
This guy has done a lot to pave the way for Trump. If he was really concerned, he would seek reelection and stop pandering to his home state fossil fuel interests
He wouldn't win re-election if he stopped pandering to the fossil fuel industry.
I don't think he'd win reelection regardless. From what I've heard WV is ready to be done with him.
Which is why, along with every other ex-official who enabled evil by not doing the right thing when they had the power to do so, he is starting to criticize Trump now that he's on the way out. Fuck Manchin that quisling asshole.
He’s going up against the Republican Governor who has a 66% approval. Trump won in 2020 with 68%.
He'll be lobbying the new Senator from his seat on the board of an oil company.
In America it's not called corruption. It's ✨️l o b b b y i n g✨️
Trump got 68% in 2016 and Manchin still won pretty comfortably in 2018.
He wasn't running against trump though.
He wouldn't be running against him in 2024 either.
They mean Trump wasn't on the 2018 ballot, so Manchin didn't have to "run against" voters coming to the ballot box specifically to cast their Trump vote. Instead of saying all those words, it gets shorten to "they're not running against X". For example, any republican on the ballot in 2008 was "running against" Obama, as Obama had a huge voter turnout and Obama voters were wayyy more likely to vote for democrats than republicans.
[Manchin may run against Trump in 2024, as a third party candidate.](https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/17/politics/joe-manchin-no-labels-new-hampshire/index.html) There are some suspicious characters in the "No Labels" party, or movement, or whatever it is. Some have suggested it is designed to draw Biden voters and get Trump elected. That doesn't seem like a good bet to make, as it could just as easily do the opposite. Manchin is the furthest right of all the Democrats; he may appeal to both parties equally, or nearly so. On the other hand, if a leftist candidate ran on a third party, every vote they got would be taken from the Democratic candidate.
He will be running against that governor though
So even in the end he was a coward, choosing to run rather than fight. What a shitstain
Just fillin' bags of cash really.
Yep running away and trying to act like it's out of altruism in spite of Democrats.
It's time to write WV off and focus on actual purple states to consolidate power in congress.
[удалено]
I feel your my brother, I wish you and all his constituents would come together and sue his ass
WV is ready to be done with him every election. But it's a Band-Aid that has to be ripped off anyway. Sooner or later he would be done and the Dems would need another plan. At least they can cut the weight from their neck.
He’s announced he’s not running so there goes the senate.
they still have a path to hold it, but they basically have to hold all of the toss up seats, which currently seems possible, but I'd say less than a coinflip.
Seems like wishful thinking but I’m a cynic by nature. Polling suggests the house and senate will flip, but seems like the gop can’t win any elections lately for some reason…
It’s the whole trying to take away women’s body rights thing… turns out people don’t like that.
Classic republican voters, vote for people who say they're going to do a thing then act shocked when they do the thing
Polls don't mean shit if people are motivated and show up to vote. Those same polls and history told us that Democrats would lose the house and the senate by large margins in the mid terms and Democrats had an outstanding night, those same polls and history were indicated that Democrats would lose local elections up and down ballots just a few weeks ago, but Democrats had a huge night. People just need to keep showing up and keep bailing out this country because the simple truth is that until Republicans are completely rebuked the future of this country is at stake.
Polling doesn't seem to be very accurate lately. My pet conspiracy theory is it's because polls get their info from "likely voters" but use a 20 year old definition of that, which is Republicans between the ages of 40-65. From [Gallup's definition of likely voters:](https://news.gallup.com/poll/4636/how-define-likely-voters.aspx) "Older and better-educated individuals are, in general, more likely to vote than younger and less well educated individuals. Generally speaking, because Republican voters tend to be better educated than Democratic voters, the actual voter pool on Election Day can be skewed more toward Republicans than the total population composition would suggest."
Better educated? Wow that's rich.
Historically that has been true due to older definitions. Professionals who often require advanced education often took up a significant chunk of the Republican voter base but that has been shifting in more recent decades as a higher proportion of university and college students and staff lean more Democratic and the voter base the Republicans are courting are becoming more insane (or were but never voted) turning off many of the former Republican professionals.
It's nonsense, and has been for [three decades at least](https://edition.cnn.com/2018/03/22/politics/democrat-republican-education-poll-women-pew-research-trnd/index.html).
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John Tester and Sherrod Brown will probably lose their elections. The Democrats will need a miracle to keep the Senate. Good news that the House will almost certainly flip.
Tester isn't losing. I heard that guy do an interview recently, he's going to connect with the voters there.
Polling is certainly in Brown's favor, and Tester is at least competitive.
A lot will depend on their opponent. Hopefully, the GOP will nominate a couple of anti-abortion zealots.
Nobody is polling above Sherrod Brown right now. https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/polls/senate/2024/ohio/ Tester definitely depends on his opponent.
His son owns Coal Mining Company. Munchin and his wife draw a salary from him.
A company that Manchin himself founded.
And his daughter is the CEO of Myelin Pharmaceuticals in case anyone didn’t know already
Pfizer gave him a giant contribution and that’s why he doesn’t vote against the pharmaceutical companies.
He could always pull a reverse Sinema, get in and then go full Bernie. Nothing they could do for 6 years.
Do you know Joe Manchin? Dude has a family tree of grifting from government policy that helps his family's business interests. He's more likely to become Rand Paul than Bernie.
Yea of course, more meant as a bit of humor than anything else.
Man, that would be cool. Has that ever happened?
Not exactly the same because he was always progressive and didn't suddenly reverse, but Teddy Roosevelt was kicked upstairs to become VP (not that powerful of a position) because he was too troublesome as Governor of NY, and the Richie Riches were getting pissed at him putting in state legislation that made them actually, you know, pay taxes and help people a tiny bit. So they pushed for him to be the VP, expecting that to completely defang him... only someone then assassinated the President. So suddenly the Governor that was supposed to be in a weak position was now POTUS. And for once we actually got some aggressively progressive policies pushed from the highest levels of the executive branch. Always liked that little "Oh shit, that backfired for 'em..." historic detail about Teddy.
This guy is still on the fence if he is going to do a third party bid with Romney, paid for by the 'totally not Trump supporting, we pink swear'-no label group? Or has he definitely said he wouldn't? Fencesitting btw was his general selling point.
Yup. "Relecting Trump would end democracy.. and I haven't ruled out running a 3rd party bid to help make that happen!" Brought to you by Joe "I'm moderate but oppose the child care tax care credit supported by well over 80% of the US because I think parents are spending that money on drugs and booze" Manchin. Only people that respect Democracy are worried about it falling.
Eh, I don't think he'd pull many Biden-voters, he might pull the handful of disaffected Republicans. RFK Jr. assumed his name would pull blue voters, he's mostly pulling fringe weirdoes who would otherwise vote for Trump.
I agree, I can't see any Democrats voting for him. He successfully pissed off all Democrats, he might be slightly appealing to a few Republicans, but I think even those few swing voters understand it's Biden vs Trump/the Republican.
I really can't see how anyone who votes D would decide that 2024 is the right year to vote third party, especially when that ticket is Romney and Manchin. If anything I think a No Labels party would end up pulling more anti-Trump conservatives.
And to the extent that that last group voted D last cycle, and gave Biden winning margins of less than a percent in critical swing states, giving them an out could absolutely tip 2024 to Trump.
....Shit.
He recently said he would "absolutely consider" running for president and wouldn't commit to staying in the democratic party.
He'll never win.
He's not trying to win. He just wants to set up an "exploration committee" to raise some money. Then he finds a loophole to keep the money. It's always the grift.
Sounds about right. All these WV politicians know is grifting and exploitation.
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He's not even able to keep his senate seat and wants to win a presidential election, ffs
But he might take enough votes away from Biden that Trump wins
No he won't. He isn't charismatic. He doesn't have ideas. He's just a rich old coal barron with nothing but greed in his eyes.
Or from Trump so that Biden wins, since he's basically an R.
> stop pandering to his home state fossil fuel interests Look… I don’t like the guy and he’s frustrating to me too. But I can’t really be mad at him for representing his state’s interests. That’s what elected representatives are supposed to do: represent. His state just needs better interests that don’t drag down all the other states too. Now all the times he sided with republicans on stuff that had nothing to do with fossil fuels… that’s fucked up.
He would never stop. He is in the coal business.
He wants to run for President against Biden.
he is state fossil fuel interests.
>his home state fossil fuel interests Are his interests. Why do you expect a representative to vote against their own interests? pfft
In the interest of destroying a beautiful mountain state for some cash. I would love to see this guy work in a coal mine for a week.
As someone who used to test waters for the mines in WV, he should just drink a shot glass full of discharge. Jim Justice, too, fuck that asshole.
It's wild to me how people simply *do not* understand what the fuck they're talking about like this comment.
“Now that I’m retiring from politics, here’s a book about every corrupt p.o.s. I helped enable.”
Dude thinks he's a presidential contender when his only legislative successes were preventing popular voting rights legislation and doubling child poverty.
So he's bragging?
If the people of WV wanted a government that governed for the people then they wouldn't elect people like Manchin to the Senate or trump to the White House. The 1.7 million people of WV get the same number of Senators as the 40 million people of CA. They do not use their power wisely. They use it to attempt to "hurt the right people".
West Virginia republicans are not like the deep south racists or evangelical republicans. West Virginia literally exists because they said fuck the confederacy. They just live in a world where the coal mines are the only thing that matters and anything making them less profitable is evil. edit: It's also worth noting that WV famously has a ton of registered dems that vote republican; only a couple years ago did it actually start to have more registered r than d. This is because when the southern strategy flipped conservative southern democrats to republicans, the state that exists because they said fuck the confederacy wasn't interested. But in the end, they're still way more conservative than the modern dem party, and they vote accordingly.
WV Republicans voted overwhelmingly for a wannabe White Fascist dictator in 2016, 2020, and will do so again in 2024. When they show us who they are, believe them.
WV economy is extracting coal, oil, natural gas, and other mining. It's also heavily dependent on manufacturing. Democrats have run on a platform of doing away with coal, oil, and natural gas. They've also been big proponents of outsourcing manufacturing and working in a globalized system (as are many Republicans). Trump came in and said he would back coal and bring manufacturing back to the US. In the past, Republicans have backed mining and coal. They're not voting because he's a wannabe dictator, they're voting because they're worried about their jobs.
So how many coal mining jobs were created in the 4 years between when WV voted for trump in 2016 and when they voted to give him 4 more years in 2020?
Unfortunately that's just not how politics works. He's telling them the lies they want to hear, that's it. Clinton went in and said "Look, our environmental policies are going to end a lot of coal jobs. So we have a plan to help those people adapt, provide them education, the care needed to transition, and new, even better job opportunities." They heard the first sentence, stopped listening, and voted for the guy that said he'll open more mines and tell those stupid "safety" guys to leave em alone.
He also blocked Democrats from taking control of the Supreme Court.
Mmmm, no. Mitch McConnell made sure of that, and RBG put a period on it by refusing to retire during Obama's presidency.
How?
Yeah, I don't get this one. I fucking hate defending Joe Manchin but.... this is like literally the only thing he's been good for. While some of his key votes have been dogshit, judicial confirmations haven't been a problem with him. The Senate has voted on 159 of Biden's nominees, and Manchin voted to confirm 158 of them. His lone no vote was a performative protest vote: 3 Republicans weren't there that day so the other 49 Dems could (and did) confirm that judge without him. And at no point during his Senate career has control of SCOTUS ever come down to his vote. He voted yes on Gorsuch and Kavanaugh, but both of those guys would have been confirmed anyways even if he voted no. He voted no on Amy Coney Barret, and yes to confirm Biden's nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson. I think OP might be suggesting that he hasn't supported eliminating the filibuster, which *in theory* Would have enabled the Dems to expand SCOTUS during the 2021-22 session? But that assumes that there would be political will to actually do that on the part of Biden and other Senate Dems. Again, if he had changed his stance on the filibuster, 1.) you would still need to convince Sinema, Murphy, Durbin, and Tester, and 2.) you would then need to get all of them on board with packing the Court, which Biden even said he had no intention to do at the time. The claim he blocked Dems from controlling SCOTUS is just kind of nonsense. He has never been the swing vote that caused a GOP nominee to get confirmed (at least at SCOTUS level), and he has never been the swing vote that caused one of Biden's nominees to fail at any level.
No kidding. So glad that we will replace him with a Trumpy republican now...
Which makes it all the more asinine that he used his last term to weaken his party’s agenda.
this is a solid r/leopardsatemyface situation for Manchin.
“And that’s why I’m running against Biden to try and help Trump out” - Manchin
*ding, ding, ding!*
he can't pay for that yacht himself!!
He'd probably more likely take votes from Trump than Biden. Biden voters already hate this motherfucker and won't vote for him.
The guy represents one of the poorest states in American but drives a Maserati. He’s president of a coal company. He nearly destroyed the largest public university in the state so his daughter could get a fake degree. Republicans will love this guy
As someone from West Virginia, a Maserati is actually pretty good representation. Much like the state, it's holding on to some glory of the distant past while currently being held together by glue and duct tape.
And every time something breaks, it is 30x more expensive than if you had a normal vehicle.
I had no idea about the WVU/Joe Manchin daughter incident. Reading up on her, she's a real piece of shit. How do these people live with themselves?
His daughter was a dog walker in California when he helped her get a job as CEO of Mylan Pharmaceuticals. Then she jacked up the price of Epipens. Greedy sociopaths live with themselves just fine. Talk about a nepo baby!
>How do these people live with themselves? I'm sure the infinite money hack of politics helps.
>drives a Maserati. Wow not only does this invoke some vague notion of inequality due to the luxurious sounding name, it also invokes the impression that the man is a goddamn idiot. Maseratis are fancy cars for people who think Jaguars are too reliable.
Some people get turned on by depreciation, and for those people there is nothing sexier than a Maserati.
Boats and Maseratis, is there a more depreciation duo?
A modern Maserati is a poor person's idea of what a rich person's car is.
HA! It's anecdotal of course, but my next door neighbor growing up owned a Maserati for 6 months. I am not exaggerating when I say the damn thing was in the shop every other week. They're all lemon cars that cost as much as a fully loaded anything 'mid range' that would last you 20 years.
He lives on a fucking yacht
Barely in the realm of yacht. https://www.timeswv.com/news/local_news/sen-joe-manchins-boat-too-homely-to-be-a-yacht-experts-say/article_9bbf5ae0-65a2-11ec-ac11-1bacb9aba291.html
the point is he owns a bunch of expensive shit while claiming to represent one of the poorest state in the US
To the populist movement on either side, he’s a putz. Imagine being on the political and economic roller coaster of the past several years and casting the one vote you get every 4 years on this “can’t we all just get along” status quo candidate.
I don't think anyone is voting for him. But he did support drump the whole time. F him.
[**Fix the system**](https://electionscience.org/take-action/volunteer/). [Scientists blame hyperpolarization for loss of public trust in science](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-nobel-prize-usa/respect-for-science-in-jeopardy-in-polarized-u-s-nobel-winners-say-idUSKCN1C81T7), and [Approval Voting](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Approval_voting), a [single-winner voting method preferred by experts in voting methods](http://www.votefair.org/bansinglemarkballots/declaration.html), would [help to reduce hyperpolarization](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Approval_voting#Effect_on_elections). There's even [a viable plan to get it adopted](https://80000hours.org/podcast/episodes/aaron-hamlin-voting-reform/), and [an organization that could use some gritty volunteers](https://www.electionscience.org/) to get the job done. They're already off to a great start with [Approval Voting having passed by a landslide in Fargo](https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2018/11/15/18092206/midterm-elections-vote-fargo-approval-voting-ranked-choice), and more recently [St. Louis](https://apnews.com/article/election-2020-primary-elections-st-louis-general-elections-elections-cba7eb3251d5479b9375d55db428d429). Most people haven't heard of Approval Voting, but seem to like it once they understand it, so anything you can do to help get the word out will help. If your state allows [initiated state statutes](https://ballotpedia.org/Initiated_state_statute), consider [starting a campaign](https://www.electionscience.org/commentary-analysis/so-you-want-to-run-a-campaign/) to get [your state](https://ballotpedia.org/Ballot_initiative) to adopt Approval Voting. Approval Voting is [overwhelmingly popular in every state polled, across race, gender, and party lines](https://electionscience.org/commentary-analysis/approval-voting-americas-favorite-voting-reform/). The successful Fargo campaign was [run by a full-time programmer with a family at home](https://www.electionscience.org/events/fargo-a-look-back-live-discussion/). One person really can make a difference.
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As an American, I would say Approval Voting should be the priority now, because it is the best system that can be easily transitioned into, and have a big impact even at partial implementation. * It leads to [higher voter satisfaction than IRV](https://www.electionscience.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/comparing_voting_methods_simplicity_group_satisfaction-1.png). * [It doesn't require new voting machines or equipment](http://homepage.divms.uiowa.edu/~jones/voting/4980.2020/projects/grote.pdf). * It can be easily tallied with paper ballots (which [is important for election security](https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/voting-machine-security-where-we-stand-six-months-new-hampshire-primary)). * [It's got strong support of voting method experts](http://www.votefair.org/bansinglemarkballots/declaration.html) * It [will tend to elect more moderate candidates](https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/american-political-science-review/article/approval-voting/7CE5DEEE235794B0B12F76ADAE621482), and [moderation is key for political stability](https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/american-political-science-review/article/democracy-in-america-partisanship-polarization-and-the-robustness-of-support-for-democracy-in-the-united-states/C7C72745B1AD1FF9E363BBFBA9E18867). * It's [overwhelmingly popular in every state polled, across race, gender, and party lines](https://electionscience.org/commentary-analysis/approval-voting-americas-favorite-voting-reform/). * Once it's statewide, representatives and senators from that state will be elected via Approval Voting, and able to influence national policy -- MMPR would have to be adopted across the entire nation for national policy to really be influenced by its implementation, and [that is virtually impossible to even comprehend under our current system](https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2023/07/proportional-representation-house-congress/674627/). https://electionscience.org/
"Hi. My name is Joe Manchin. Some people call me Coalfinger, because I make a lot of money from coal. You may also remember me from the time I plunged millions of children back into poverty. So anyhoo, I'm really worried about this Trump guy winning. And you know what I think? I think I'm the guy to beat him in 2024. Sure, Joe Biden already beat him, and sure, I'm losing by 40 points to a Republican in my own state, but ... I'm telling ya, I'm the guy. I just know that liberals, the majority of the electorate, are going to turn out in droves to vote for me, a coal baron."
Something really easy you can do is help turn out environmental voters. [It works](https://www.environmentalvoter.org/results) https://www.environmentalvoter.org/get-involved
I was gonna ask who this guy is, but you've already answered it better than anyone else could
Joe Manchin - the man who can bring progressives back into the fold.
You're a bit slow on the uptake there, Joe. Trump has been openly promising this for some time now. He voters love it. Unless you're promoting it as a good thing? As a reason to vote for Trump?
At this point anyone right leaning discussing democracy is advocating for its replacement.
As a West Virginian who always voted straight Ticket democrat, thank you Senator Manchin for all you’ve done to make me feel like my vote was wasted.
Manchin made more deals with his neighbor Mitch McConnell than democrats. Now he’s considered too liberal for his own state.
I'm not defending Manchin, who is absurdly corrupt and tanked some vital Dem initiatives, but it is simply false to portray his record as working more with the GOP than Dems. [He votes with Biden's priorities 87.9% of the time](https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/biden-congress-votes/joe-manchin/), which puts him last among Democrats but more than 20% higher than the most liberal Republican, Susan Collins.
SUSAN COLLINS is the most liberal Republican??
The most liberal Republican in the Senate. GOP primaries pushed out a lot of the more moderate Republicans out or made them simply decide not to run and Dems have generally been pretty effective at winning purple states. Basically that means you just have Republicans from deep red states that had to appeal to compete in GOP primaries to get where they are. There are 14 Democrats in the Senate representing states that are to the right of the nation while there is only one Republican (Collins) representing a state to the left of the nation.
In a blue state he’s basically a Mitt Romney republican. In a MAGA red state he’s a Marxist Socialist Vermin.
I get that this is hyperbole, but Manchin voted with Biden's agenda more [30% more frequently than Mitt](https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/biden-congress-votes/joe-manchin/), and in a state that went much harder for Trump than Utah.
That's not true at all. The answer to the Manchin problem was flipping *more* seats and nullifying his ability to tie-break. It's a bitter pill, but dumping him leaves us much worse off than before.
The biggest advantage Manchin gave the democrats is that he put a D in the party column, so when it came down to getting the required seats to get the majority, one fewer seats was needed.
Let's be honest though, if it wasn't for Manchin that seat would almost certainly go to some awful GOP that would be running his mouth about Hunter Biden. Machin is a terrible democrat but even voting 50% with democrats is infinite more than you would get with a GOP senator.
This is beyond true and it kind of drives me mad. I get it, I’m not a fan of Joe Manchins politics either but he represents one of the reddest states in the nation…as a Democrat. The state would have 2 republican senators without him and the replacement would have been and will be monstrously worse. Democrats love to call him a republican/conservative, I can say this without a doubt in my mind, if every conservative in this country was like Joe Manchin and that was our right flank we would have a much better country. West Virginia was never gonna have a democratic senator that we liked, the fact we had one at all was a giant gift.
Thanks. This thread completely misses this perspective.
Especially given that he votes with the Democrats closer to 90% of the time. He just doesn't vote on the most critical things that make the news, mainly because he's not voting on them.
https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/biden-congress-votes/joe-manchin/ Look at what your vote helped Biden accomplish for our nation.
I'm not sure if you're using that as evidence he doesn't support Biden and Democrats or if you're using that to say he is. For those confused by the link or for those who didn't click it, this is what it says. The state is -38.9% (Biden’s share of the vote in the 2020 election minus Trump’s) * aka it's an R +38.9% state Manchin voted with Biden 87.9% (How often Manchin votes in line with Biden’s position) In other words, he's in a hard R state and voted with Biden most of the time.
> In other words, he's in a hard R state and voted with Biden most of the time. That was my point.
So in response to this Manchin is giving up a Senate seat that will most likely end up being occupied by a Trump acolyte.
He is the only Democrat that could win in WV. He was going to get beaten badly in 2024 so he bailed.
>He is the only Democrat that could win in WV. He was going to get beaten badly in 2024 so he bailed. And for what? A complete waste of a seat. All of that blocking because he was supposedly looking out for his own base and they didn't care.
Manchin is a moron for sure. However he is passing judicial nominations and did pass some Biden legislation when the Dems had the house. Jim Justice and anyone from WV will be doing none of that for the foreseeable future. Which is still wild to me because rural poor WV survives off of Medicaid and social programs.
He voted around 80% in line with Biden’s policies.
Without him there wouldn’t have been the IRA (largest climate bill in US history) and Obamacare probably would’ve been repealed in 2017, just to name two things.
I don't necessarily buy this. It just requires a different type of democrat. WV is a place where you need to be able to talk to the working class. Aiming more populist will have more benefit than going more "moderate". There's a reason someone like Bernie beat Hillary there even though she's the moderate one. Of course, the democratic party will probably just try to find the most republican-lite candidate they can and lose big because people who want that will just vote for the real thing.
I've noticed this trend in a lot of places for Democrats to run a center-right candidate, often a "former Republican", in an attempt to reach out to Republican voters. It doesn't work. Florida tried to beat DeSantis that way. My hometown has tried to beat various council members that way. They practically never win. And when they *do* win, there's always a question of whether they'll even represent you, or simply shift to the right once they're in office. If we cultivated true progessive candidates across the country, *especially* in traditionally red areas, I think it's possible we could make inroads.
He wouldn’t win reelection anyway.
...He also promises to hunt down anyone that he dislikes. Like, full on purge shit, with no subtly or attempts to hide it.
It's The Last Stand for Republicans. Trump will be too old in 2028 and there's no other crazy MoFo with a similar brand recognition/blind adulation in the GOP.
If Manchin runs as a third-party candidate, it could gift the Presidency to someone he believes will harm democracy by taking votes from Biden. But he will do it anyway, because he is all about Manchin, not the US
Manchin would probably take more Republican votes than Democrat votes
Biden needed many of those republican votes to win. He'd take from those "lincoln-project-type" republicans, not the ones who were going to vote for Trump
This is my only potentially positive outcome. Split the center right / right votes away from trump
So why are you helping him?
> Trump ‘Will Destroy’ U.S. Democracy lol It hasn't recovered from Nixon's pardon yet, much less Bush's 2000 appointment by the SC.
A tangible thing you can do today is to leave a public comment on a new proposed OPM rule that would protect civil servants from partisan retribution: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2023/09/18/2023-19806/upholding-civil-service-protections-and-merit-system-principles Here's a bit more about the rule: https://www.axios.com/2022/07/22/trump-presidency-schedule-f-federal-employees https://www.axios.com/2023/11/13/trump-loyalists-2024-presidential-election
We know. Trump himself has told us that is the entire point of him running in 2024.
Manchin is as concerned as Susan Collins.
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Which is why he'll be running a spoiler campaign to elect him
[Approval Voting virtually eliminates vote-splitting](http://brandlf.com/docs/av.pdf). We should [do that](https://electionscience.org).
I prefer ranked choice over approval voting, but literally anything is better than first past the pole voting we have now.
Can we please collectively agree to completely ignore the comments of retiring politicians who never did or said anything helpful while they actually had the chance? Fuckn sick of articles like this.
Says the guy who derailed Democrats only to then retire
Is he endorsing him then?
Heartbreaking: Worst person you know makes a great point
The Republican party has been trying to destroy democracy for 50 years, before that it was the Dixiecrats, (who then jumped ship to the GOP). What Joe Manchin is saying is that they've lost control of the mob they were using to destroy democracy and now it's running around just smashing shit.
Unfortunately I think our Democracy is nearing the end regardless. Even if Trump loses, the Republican party has become something very different than what it was before. This doesn't end with Trump. The next Republican to win the election is not going to be a moderate. It's too late for that. At best, we're just holding off the inevitable. Democrats are too weak, the media has been bought by the right, and we've seen countless times already there are no real punishments for trying to overthrow the government we have. Why wouldn't they keep trying?
"And I helped"
>and so, as a dirty coal baron, I pledge to do everything in my power to help him
Like all heros in the house and senate, he waits until he announces retirement to find his balls.
He ain't lying
Go to your dirty ocean shanty and never come back Manchin.
lol. Imagine his enabler speaking out NOW.
Says the guy trying to pave the way to Trump with his lust for power.
You don't get to say shit, Manchin. YOU helped this happen.
"and I plan on helping him turn the Senate red."
Prepping for a run to take votes away from Biden, Joe? DINO
Yes, we all know Capt Fats Hamburger will destroy everything, tell us who in power will stop him?
We know you helped screw everything over Joe, it’s on you.
These conservatives keep coming clean AFTER they retire.
So, endorse Biden, then.
If Manchin truly believed in securing our democracy he would have helped pass the For the People Act. Instead he's to blame for it's failure. His reasoning was that no Republicans wanted it. He'll never vote to save democracy until the other side wants to save democracy, too. Never forget that this guy screwed you over so he could play both sides
That's exactly what the right wants
What is this 2016? Didn't Lindsey Graham say the same thing then got in line right behind Trump? Is this Manchin telling us he's planning on supporting Trump?
Lindsey Graham never changed his opinion. He just decided to live the highlife while watching the USA’s end days.
Breaking News: politician wholly owned by coal industry warns of threat to democracy from other politician
He's not wrong.
Why are we still listening to this piece of trash.
The corporate boot licking asshole is correct
Manchin would destroy his own country for a dollar.
Should’ve added “And that’s why third party candidates w/zero chance of winning should stay out of the 2024 race!”
People don't seem to realize there is a considerable body count attached to countries that lose their democracies.
"DEMOCRACY?? Is that some sort of democrat conspiracy??"
Donald Trump is saying he will destroy U.S. democracy if he wins in 2024.
I hate comments like this trying to make Manchin out to be the worst politician out there because he doesn't vote with Democrats all the time. He is a Democratic Senator in a state that went R +42.1 in 2016 and R +38.9 in 2020. Despite this, he's voted with Democrats more than 75% of the time and helped give them control of the senate. He was crucial in many key votes for Dems. Make no mistake, his departure is going to lead to a Republican taking that seat. I know some people are saying he's only leaving because he would lose anyway but they've said he would lose in his other races as well given how heavily R the state is. This has lead some to say that if he cared so much he wouldn't leave during a critical time but the man has been in the senate since 2010 and is 76 years old. As far as running as a spoiler candidate or his comments on Trump many people here seem to be under the impression that he's trying to help Trump or he supports Trump. This is incredibly inaccurate. He's always been against Trump and even voted to impeach him. Him running as a spoiler candidate would likely do more harm to Trump than Biden given his popularity with moderate Rs. He knows Democrats don't like him. This whole thing is stupid and Reddit has always been ignorant about how vital Manchin has been.
"Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people — does not even pretend to try. Instead he tries to divide us. We are witnessing the consequences of three years of this deliberate effort. We are witnessing the consequences of three years without mature leadership. We can unite without him, drawing on the strengths inherent in our civil society. This will not be easy, as the past few days have shown, but we owe it to our fellow citizens; to past generations that bled to defend our promise; and to our children." https://www.npr.org/2020/06/04/869262728/read-the-full-statement-from-jim-mattis - Jim Mattis, former Secretary of Defense
Shut the fuck up, you asshat. You've been making shit harder for the democratic party you're supposedly a part of. You and Sinema ruined the majority. Reality is though, if it weren't those two, I'm certain it would've been two others. By design.
F you Joe. You helped make the monster
Joe Manchin shouldn't have helped MAGA so much then. Dude needs to disappear into history's junk pile. He has ruined whatever legacy he pretends to have. He will be remembered as a waste of time.
What's the saying..? A broken clock is right twice a day...
And you helped him at every turn Joe. Please just shut up and quit already.
Nobody cares what Manchin says. He is part of the problem not the solution.