One almost feels that Sen. Joe Manchin is so close. Close, that is, to driving a final nail into what’s left of President Joe Biden’s left-wing agenda – and perhaps to actually joining the GOP.
The Free Press reported last week that the West Virginia Democrat recently saw a big bump in popularity at home because Republicans are cheering for him. A Morning Consult poll had found that Manchin’s support among Republicans had doubled – to 69 percent – while his backing among his fellow Democrats fell by 19 points.
As the pollster put it, Manchin surged on the right because he rejected “a range of [Biden’s] domestic agenda items on voting rights, social spending programs, and climate change.”
As The Daily Wire reported on Sunday, Manchin has gone even further to the right. He made an ad endorsing a Republican running for Congress.
GOP Reps. David McKinley and Alex Mooney are set to square off in the fall because redistricting put them in the same newly drawn district, The Daily Wire reported.
Former President Donald Trump has backed Mooney. Manchin lined up behind McKinley.
“I’ve always said if I can’t go home and explain it, I can’t vote for it,” Manchin said in the ad for McKinley. “And that’s why I opposed Build Back Better. For Alex Mooney and his out-of-state supporters to suggest David McKinley supported Build Back Better is an outright lie.”
“David McKinley has always opposed reckless spending because it doesn’t make sense for West Virginia,” Manchin added. “Alex Mooney has proven he’s all about Alex Mooney, but West Virginians know that David McKinley is all about us.”
The Daily Wire highlighted a tweet by journalist Jordan, who noted, “lol Joe Manchin brags about sinking Build Back Better in an ad he just cut for a Republican candidate for Congress. Democrats were never going to get this guy on board for any part of their agenda.”
On Twitter, Democratic political consultant Max Burns argued, “If Joe Manchin can cut ads for Republicans and spit in Joe Biden’s face without consequence, and Democrats will *still* handle Manchin with kid gloves, that’s a deeper problem within the party.”
The question, though, is: What can Democrats do? They can’t bypass him because they face a 50-50 split. And if they continue to attack him with ammo from the AOC wing of the party, they just might push him into the GOP.
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