One can only hope that Senate Democrats have decided to TRY and make Manchin’s life a little uncomfortable now. Two encouraging signs are the Huffington Post article on Manchin’s calling his constituents white trash, and Schumer has announced there will be a vote on BBB to put Manchin on the record. The second part was probably already in the works, but Manchin’s televised “Fuck You Democrats!” on Fox made that a definite development. But I was struck by the Huffington Post’s exclusive on Manchin’s belief that the child tax credit and paid family leave would be a waste of tax money on drug addicts and people who just want paid vacations.
That last part is where Manchin calls his constituents white trash.
Granted, West Virginians probably think the bulk of the poor in their state are blacks, but considering over 93% of the state is WHITE, most of West Virginian’s poor are WHITE. But it didn’t stop Manchin from using a Reagan welfare queen line to describe a significant chunk of his constituents.
Oh, and by the way, paid family leave would be for everyone: poor, working class, and even the wealthy. But they are just lazy bums who want a paid vacation according to Manchin. Nice to see that Manchin doesn’t believe people can have a family emergency, especially in this time of the COVID-19 pandemic. Or that people should have a job that gives them paid vacation either I suppose, at least that is what is implied with Manchin’s sneer toward paid family leave.
No, what struck me about that Huffington Post article was that at least one Senate Democrat went on the record in it. It was Sherrod Brown of Ohio who said this:
Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), a top proponent of the child payments, said he had heard of Manchin’s remarks about the money going toward drugs but wasn’t paying any mind to it.
“The stories I hear the most, if you put it in categories, are child care, school supplies, college fund, phone bills,” Brown told HuffPost last week. “My focus is getting this program — which is the best thing Congress has done in 25 years — making sure it continues.”
Given the fawning treatment of Joe Manchin by Senate Democrats in the past (whenver asked about Joe Manchin being an obstructionist, either Democratic Senators deflected or said that Joe Manchin was a team player), this comment from Sherrod Brown is practically a lightning bolt from a thunder cloud. It’s not the most direct criticism, but U.S. Senators are loath to call each other names, especially if they are of the same party. When Brown said he had “heard” of Manchin’s remarks , what he really means was he was in the room when that prick Manchin said it.
Frankly, I would like to hear more of what Senate Democrats have “heard” about Manchin out in the public.
Anyway, this is at least a start. I’m not from WV, but I do live in KY. And I have some inkling of how people in a state that is circling the drain think. Kentuckians love Trump because he was promoting white male supremacy, and this makes even the poorest white man feel better about himself. And I suspect the same dynamic is working in WV.
But I don’t think poor white people want to be compared to welfare queens or called white trash. And Joe Manchin has said such in private and in public. And maybe, just maybe, some political groups might want to run ads in WV highlighting how good old Joe Manchin really feels about his constituents. But I wouldn’t put it into complex policy terms. But the ad should put in the term white trash IMHO.
It’s just a thought.
But it is at least a start that Senate Democrats might be reacting a bit more strongly to that prick Manchin.
One other point to keep in mind. Manchin has shown that he is a coward and low class, as Josh Marshall has noted. Manchin went on a Republican propoganda network to make his public announcement on “NO” for BBB. Manchin had an aide call another White House aide only 30 minutes before the broadcast, and Manchin refused to take the presidents call.
Cowards are not known for their toughness. They can fake toughness, but they are not tough. Just something else to keep in mind when dealing with Manchin in the future.