Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) couldn’t seem to decide whether or not to stand during part of President Trump’s State of the Union address Tuesday in a moment noticed by many on Twitter.
Omg @ComfortablySmug, you see Manchin??? pic.twitter.com/gP1LQgpzBQ
— Charlie Cafazza (@Cafazza) January 31, 2018
Sen. Manchin, a more conservative Democrat who is facing a tough re-election race in a state that voted for Trump in 2016, later told CNN that his fellow Democrats who didn’t stand for Trump’s speech were wrong in not showing respect.
"I was taught in West Virginia there's a little bit of respect, and you should show that. And I did that then, and I did it last night," he said.
"I've seen it on both sides," he added, "I was there when Obama gave speeches. I was there on that horrible night when he said ‘you lie,' and I saw them not standing," Manchin said in reference to when Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) interrupted then-President Barack Obama's State of the Union address in 2009.
"You can disagree," Manchin added. "I can stand up and still disagree and respect, but I want to move forward. The president laid out some things that I can work with."
Manchin outlined some areas of agreement he has with Trump as well.
“I stayed there and shook his hand and thanked him because he talked about coal, we’re gonna do coal research and development, opioid addiction, I need that,” Manchin told Fox & Friends. ”Infrastructure, I’ve never seen a pothole that belongs to a Democrat or a Republican -- we both get blamed for that one -- so we’ve got to fix this stuff.”
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