They Still Need His Vote: Fox News Contributor Is Dumbfounded by Democrats Attacking Joe Manchin
Fox News contributor Guy Benson expressed surprise at attacks from high-profile Democrats against Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) on Monday, commenting that the party still desperately needs him to advance its agenda in a divided Senate.
Manchin a day before announced during an interview with fill-in Fox News Sunday host Bret Baier that he will oppose President Joe Biden and the rest of his party on the Build Back Better Act. The decision to break with his caucus on one of its marquee agenda items saw the centrist attacked by fellow Democrats.
Among those to issue scathing statements against Manchin was White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki. Speaking on Outnumbered Monday, Benson, a talk radio host and political editor for Townhall.com, expressed surprise at what he equated to a shortsighted onslaught against Manchin, who Democrats still need desperately with the Senate split evenly at 50/50.
After co-host Kayleigh McEnany aired a soundbite from Monday morning in which Manchin responded to the attacks from the White House during a radio interview with Hoppy Kercheval of West Virginia MetroNews, Benson expressed confusion over the heat the centrist Democrat is feeling, especially from the White House.
Benson said:
It might be the press secretary that he is referring to. That statement she put out was blistering, and I would say somewhat shocking, actually. Manchin’s decision was not shocking because you are right Kayleigh, he’s been telegraphing it for months. He put it in writing. In the statement signed by Chuck Schumer, we knew what his demands were. Build Back Better did not come close to those demands, so he decided to pull the plug.
He later added:
Maybe, you know, we’ll see something next year very paired down, not really close to BBB — more in line with what Manchin said — but his decision here was not shocking. The calculation of the white house, though, mind-blowing. They still need Joe Manchin’s vote on literally everything. It’s a 50/50 Senate. They are accusing him of being a liar and acting in bad faith.
In a response to Psaki’s Sunday statement accusing him of essentially betraying Biden on Build Back Better, Manchin told Kercheval Monday, “[The White House] figured surely to God we can move one person. We surely can badger and beat one person up. Surely we can get enough protesters to make that person uncomfortable enough that they’ll just say, ‘OK I’ll vote for anything.”
In her statement, Psaki said of Manchin, “If his comments on FOX and written statement indicate an end to that effort, they represent a sudden and inexplicable reversal in his position and a breach of his commitments to the President and the Senator’s colleagues in the House and Senate.”
Watch above, via Fox News.
