Tipsheet

McConnell: Democrats Sound Like 'They Don't Really Want' Manchin in Their Party, But We'd Take Him

Guy Benson
Guy Benson  |  December 21, 2021 10:35 AM

In an exclusive interview, I asked Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell about his reaction to Sen. Joe Manchin's decision to break with his party and formally oppose the Biden administration's multi-trillion-dollar "Build Back Better" spending spree. McConnell celebrated the West Virginian's surprise "Fox News Sunday" announcement and expressed astonishment at the White House's scorched-earth reaction, which he correctly characterized as tantamount to calling Manchin a liar. Here is the full interview, with a few quotes and points of interest highlighted below: 


BENSON: Are you surprised at all by the White House reaction attacking Manchin pretty personally on his integrity, saying that he sort of went back on his word and perhaps this was a betrayal? In your experience is that a successful persuasion tactic with someone like Manchin? 

MCCONNELL: I tell you in the time I've been Republican Leader I never get angry about losing a vote because, you know, the most important vote is always the next vote. So I was shocked at the vitriol and basically seemed to me that they were calling Senator Manchin a liar. I think that was not smart. This is a 50-50 Senate. It’s going to be 50-50 for another year. And believe me, that’s not – that’s not the way I would have handled a disappointing vote like this...

BENSON: ...I saw a story just the other day, Senator McConnell, about you and Manchin getting chummier in recent days and Democrats sort of fretting about that. Is that true? Have you grown closer with Senator Manchin? And do you think there’s a case to be made to him, particularly given what you just called the vitriol from The White House that maybe, given the way his constituents voted in 2016 and 2020, maybe the more natural home for Senator Joe Manchin is in the Republican Conference? 

MCCONNELL: Well, it won’t surprise you to know, Guy, I've made that argument for quite some time to [Joe]. We come from the same part of the country, you know, a lot of similarities between West Virginia and Virginia, including our constituencies, which are pretty red these days. I don’t know if Joe will ever become a Republican but I can tell you this for sure, the moderates are gone. There are two left in the Senate -- two moderates out of 50. There were more moderate Democrats when Barack Obama was president then there are today. And so it’s a completely uncomfortable fit for Joe. I think he’s probably, for example, the only pro-life Democrat of the 50. He doesn’t fit well over there but that’s a decision, ultimately, he has to make. We’d certainly welcome him to join us if he was so inclined. 

BENSON: ...Does that conversation change after this vote and the reaction to it, in your view? 

MCCONNELL: Well, Manchin -- it looks like they don’t really want him. I mean, I can’t imagine any other explanation for the -- for that statement yesterday, which was, as I said earlier, summing it up, they basically called Joe Manchin a liar.

The entire discussion, including McConnell responding to Trump's latest broadsides against him, as well as his increasingly bullish assessment of the GOP's chances of regaining the Senate majority in 2022, is available in the embedded audio above. Here's Fox's write-up: 


On the Manchin fallout, I had a similar reaction to the volcanic reaction from the left – and especially the White House's participation in it – in my written and on-air analysis: 


More malpractice: 

Recommended

Bucks County Dem Apologizes for Trying to Steal the PA Senate Race Matt Vespa
Why Again Do We Still Have a Special Relationship With the Tyrannical UK? Kurt Schlichter


White House Press Secretary doubled down on the churlish and aggressive statement in a media briefing Monday, though the president and Manchin spoke by phone – ending with "a sense" that there will be some renewed effort to reach some sort of agreement next year. We'll see. Political observers are mystified by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer's supposed plan to insist upon a potentially painful and embarrassing BBB vote in the coming weeks: 


As for McConnell's optimism heading into the midterm cycle (largely based on a national environment recently reflected in Virginia and New Jersey), I'll leave you with this: