The mask is officially off Sen. Joe Manchin. Once lauded as a moderate who could be trusted to keep his word, he decided to instead stab Republicans in the back to make a “climate change” deal with the far-left of his party. That came after a year of the West Virginia senator pledging to not pass a boondoggle spending bill that would make inflation worse.

If that wasn’t bad enough, a report then detailed that he changed his mind to appease the very leftwing lunatics who have been harassing and threatening him while accusing him of being bought off by the coal industry. At the urging of Sen. Chris Coons, Manchin jumped at the opportunity to hit a “homer” in the bottom of the ninth inning for the climate hysterics.

To put it simply, the senator showed he’s a coward who wants to have it both ways, playing principled moderate for his constituents to get reelected while continuously folding to Washington-based politics on the issues that matter. That cowardice continued on Sunday morning after Manchin was pressed with an uncomfortable question about Joe Biden.

JON KARL: "If Biden is renominated by your party [in 2024], will you support him?"

JOE MANCHIN: "Everybody’s worried about the elections—that’s the problem.”

JON KARL: "This is a simple question." pic.twitter.com/oLqBPpXxpR

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) July 31, 2022

This man is just pathetic, at least as a politician. I’m sure he’s a nice guy personally, but his attempts to constantly play both sides are no longer fooling anyone. He wants to make $400 billion “climate change” deals while raising taxes on people making over $30,000 a year. Then he wants to be able to obfuscate about something as simple as his own party’s president running for reelection so he can go back to West Virginia to proclaim his independence.

Yeah, that’s not how any of this works. Manchin’s clown nose on, clown nose has grown old, and probably no more so than to those who stuck their neck out to vote for him in the reddest state in the union. He can’t pretend to be so severely moderate that he won’t even commit to supporting Joe Biden while then going off to betray his constituents, many of which rely on the fossil fuel industry, to please the Bernie bros.

That game is done. Everyone sees Manchin for what he really is at this point, and any Republican in Washington still playing patty-cake with him should themselves be held accountable. The GOP has provided cover for Manchin, ensuring his reelection for far too long. It’s time to let him enjoy his new friends on the far left. Let’s see how they treat him over the long haul. And when Manchin realizes what a mistake he’s made sometime in 2024, just in time for the election, not a single Republican should be there to lend him a hand or any credibility. Let him burn.