Joe Manchin Is Not Talking About What He Is Talking About

When a person would say one thing but the logic and reality of what they were saying meant something else, my grandfather would say “that person is not talking about what they are talking about.” When Joe Manchin says “There is no circumstance in which I will vote to eliminate or weaken the filibuster” because he doesn’t want to further divide the country, or thinks the filibuster fosters bi-partisanship, he is not talking about what he is talking about.

Joe Manchin constantly describes every political thing he does as either an initiative to benefit the state of West Virginia or an attempt to stop further division in the country, by creating bipartisan compromise among Republicans and Democrats. Interestingly, his bipartisan compromise attempts to unite Democrats and Republicans seem to follow a consistent pattern.

In 2010 when Joe Manchin first ran for the U.S. Senate as a Democrat his signature campaign ad was meant to showcase divisiveness and disunity with his political party.  It pictured Joe Manchin loading bullets into a gun, taking a shot, and saying: “I sued the EPA and I’ll take dead aim at the cap and trade.” Cap and trade, formally known as the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009, was the Democratic Party’s signature climate control legislation to eliminate global warming, an initiative Republicans strongly opposed.

In 2012 while running for reelection Joe Manchin did something not often done in American politics. He stated publically that he might not vote to reelect a member of his own political party, the then-President Barack Obama, the first American Black ever elected President and the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee, to a second term. Coincidently in 2010 the then-Senate Majority Leader, Republican Mitch McConnell, had stated that the main job of congressional Republican leadership was to prevent President Obama’s 2012 re-election.

In 2013 thru 2016 Joe Manchin did his best to maintain his designation from a 2013 study by Congressional Quarterly magazine, as the top Democrat who opposed then-Democratic President Obama the most. Contradicting his claim to always put agreement and compromise ahead of petty politics Manchin told CNN that it was hard to support and work with Obama because they were not personal friends. It was also the first time Joe Manchin objected to eliminating the filibuster. After Republicans used the filibuster to virtually block all of Obama’s appointments to the federal bench since 2011, Democrats in 2013 successfully moved to abolish the ability to filibuster federal judgeships and cabinet appointments. Joe Manchin objected and argued that all federal judges must be appointed with bi-partisan votes, even though up to that point Republicans through aggressive use of the filibuster were achieving their declared goal of stopping ALL Obama judges.

In 2017 thru 2020 Joe Manchin went from being the fiercest Democrat to oppose a Democrat President, to be the most supportive Democrat to become an ally of a Republican President. Back in 2012 Joe Manchin broke precedent when he stated publically as a Democrat he might not vote for the Democrat nominee for reelection, he did so again in 2020 when he said as a Democrat he might endorse a Republican for reelection. Manchin did his part to make sure former President Trump got bi-partisan support, a fact proudly pointed out on his Senate website, “On nine occasions, Senator Manchin was the only Democrat to vote to confirm Trump nominees, including two cabinet Secretaries, three circuit court judges, and various other nominees.”

And in 2021 with the election of Democrat Joe Biden as President, Joe Manchin asserted his bi-partisanship principle to block a Biden cabinet appointment because he thought the Democratic appointee’s “partisan statements will have a toxic and detrimental impact.” Fortunately for former Republican President Trump, Joe Manchin never asserted the bi-partisanship principle to block any of the Trump appointees thought to be by many as politically “toxic,” based on their past words and deeds. Although Joe Manchin claims to be constantly in search of bipartisanship and compromise, every time he invokes his bi-partisanship principle, and every time he has objected to reforming or eliminating the filibuster it has been to block a Democratic Party initiative but never to block a Republican Party initiative.

When this block fact is combined with Manchin’s claim of “not wanting to do anything that further divides the country,” it’s clear Joe Manchin is not talking about what he is talking about when he declares he will not even support making a filibuster exception, to ensure equal access to voting for all Americans and to guarantee that every vote cast is counted as it was voted because to do so would further divide America. Since I can’t read Joe Manchin’s mind I will stop short of accusing him of lying, but to claim he will not support a law that would prohibit any American’s vote from being separated from the total and not counted, or makes it easier for all American citizens to vote because your support for the law would further divide America, is at best fantasy and worst insanity.

In fact, Joe Manchin objecting to a filibuster exception to prevent the creation of laws that allow political parties to overturn the results of an election, or laws that make it difficult to impossible for certain segments of the population to cast a vote LITERALLY DIVIDES America. Because it gives some people a voice while it takes away the voice of others!!! Not only does Manchin’s invocation of bi-partisanship and his objection to eliminating the filibuster always appear to be an effort to block Democrats, but it also always appears to disproportionally negatively affect American Black and Brown citizens.

One could argue that since the state of West Virginia has a population that is composed of over 90% of American Whites, the reason Manchin is unwilling to make a filibuster exception to protect the right of American Blacks to vote is not that he has a racist heart, but since American Blacks are only 3.6% of West Virginia’s population their ability to vote is not a priority for him. Manchin is the only Democrat elected to a statewide office in West Virginia, which might also explain why his filibuster objections and his invocation of the bi-partisanship principle always seems to benefit Republican Party initiatives.

An examination of the facts, surrounding the times when Joe Manchin invoked the bi-partisanship principle or objected to elimination or reform of the filibuster, doesn’t reveal what is in his heart and mind. But the cold hard facts do reveal the following 3 things:

1) Whether intentional or unintentional every time Joe Manchin has played the bi-partisanship card and every time he has objected to eliminating, reforming, or granting a filibuster exception it has been to the advantage of Republicans and the disadvantage of Democrats

2) The notion that Joe Manchin is stopping further division in America, by preventing a filibuster rule change or exception that would allow the passage of a law that prohibits political parties from overturning the results of an election, or makes it illegal to only count votes by certain citizens while the votes of other citizens are not counted is delusional, a lie, and defies the laws of logic. It’s discrimination when votes by some citizens are counted and votes by other citizens are not counted, and it’s discriminatory when laws make it easier for certain voters to vote while making it harder for other voters to vote. This Jim Crow type behavior is what further divides America well beyond Manchin’s political divisions of Democrat versus Republican. From Joe Manchin’s 2 groups of Democrats versus Republicans, his so-called bi-partisanship to create unity creates 4 new separate groups of division. Those who can vote versus those who cannot vote, and those that believe in the rule of law versus those that believe in the rule of a political party.

3) Since all statewide elected politicians in West Virginia are Republicans except Joe Manchin and Donald Trump got 69% of all West Virginia votes cast in the 2020 election, whenever Manchin does something that benefits Republicans it definitely boosts his popularity in West Virginia. Conversely, whenever Manchin does something to benefit Democrats it potentially hurts his popularity in West Virginia.

The cold hard facts and its 3 revelations make crystal clear that when Joe Manchin says he will not eliminate or reform the filibuster because it will further divide America, he is not talking about what he is talking about. He is either lying, delusional or ignorant of the laws of logic. Raising the question, is Joe Manchin truly trying to save American one-person-one-vote democracy or his stealth Republican West Virginia political career???