If Joe Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) thought they had Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) anywhere close on Build Back Better before, the elections appear to have solidified his stand for common sense when it comes to the Build Back Better bill.

While some on the left don’t seem to have learned the lessons that Tuesday brought, Manchin was always one-up on them and now he’s more assured than ever on his stand, as he told Fox’s Bret Baier. “I hope it’s a wake-up call for all of us,” he said. Baier asked if the results in the elections emboldened him to see that the BBB bill does no harm to the economy? “Absolutely,” Manchin responded. “I’m concerned. I’ve been talking about our debt, I’ve been talking about inflation, I’ve been talking about the fallout we may have” from the spending bills, he explained.

Now, Manchin is not just playing defense, he’s feeling his oats. He’s now actively advocating for sensible action — like more drilling to ensure our energy independence. That’s going to send the progressives over the edge. We can do more for ourselves to prevent things like rising gas prices, he declared, saying we’d been energy independent for the first time in years. That is — we were, under President Donald Trump until Biden killed that by shutting down things like the Keystone XL pipeline and the Alaska Willow Project, as well as attacking the energy industry.

“Why don’t we do more drilling and why don’t we do more….production in the United States?” Manchin exclaimed. “I’m not depending on OPEC. I’m not depending on other countries for energy anymore. We know how to do it. We have the technology. We should be relying on ourselves.” Exactly, but Joe Biden and the progressives have done that in with the insane climate moves.

“I’m a West Virginia Democrat, but I don’t know. I don’t know where maybe I belong at times, but I believe I’m fiscally responsible and socially compassionate. And you know what? I have a lot of Democrats who feel the same as I do. I have a lot of Republicans feel the same as I do.”

Manchin was asked what he thought about the nasty attack that progressive Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) made against him. He refused to attack back, showing which of the two had the class. He decried how toxic the politics had gotten and said no one is really thinking about what is “good for the country.”

Biden and Pelosi need to be hearing what he’s saying at this point: Your bill is toast the way it is constructed now. If you want to get the infrastructure bill you can get that. But you’re not getting anything that looks like the House BBB bill anytime soon.