The White House issued an official “Statement from Press Secretary Jen Psaki” on Sunday, a scathing denouncement of Senator Joe Manchin, casting him down into eternal darkness for his sins against the party and the president. You don’t have to believe my characterization of this declaration of war against the troublesome West Virginian maverick. Read it for yourself:
Even if every claim in Psaki’s harsh attack on the Senator is legitimate, which I don’t believe is the case, what purpose is served by ripping him that way? I strongly objected to the undignified, undiplomatic way in which Trump went after Washington politicians – Republicans as well as Democrats – who didn’t see eye-to-eye with him when he occupied the White House. And I thought good ol’ back-slapping Biden, who served in the Senate for 36 years, would prove to be the schmoozer-in-chief, sweet-talking senators and congressmen in order to bring them around. But apparently I was wrong. Would Psaki have ripped into Manchin this way without her boss’s prior permission? Do Psaki, Bernie Sanders, AOC, and all the other Democrats who have viciously defamed Senator Manchin in the last couple of days really believe that he will knuckle under?
The people of West Virginia elected Manchin twice as their governor and three times as their senator. My guess is that the national Democrats now attacking Manchin don’t know the people of West Virginia at all. Nor do they truly know Joe Manchin.