Democrats have tried everything they can think of to try to pressure Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) to go along with them, to do away with the filibuster and vote for Joe Biden’s Build Back Better bill. But Manchin stood firm, along with Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) and the effort went down to crushing defeat.

If you listen to Democrats, they want people to think that Americans are on their side on the issue, and they think — somehow — they can do Manchin in with his constituents.

But the bottom line is the truth of how Joe Manchin was greeted back in West Virginia.

What it says is where most of America is at — and that’s not with the progressives to do away with the rules and impose huge, obnoxious spending packages.

Now, it’s hard to hear exactly what Manchin is saying, but the point is how he’s cheered at the end.

Great to be back in @wvhouse and @wvsenate today. I had the chance to talk with so many West Virginians in our Capitol and hear their common sense thoughts and ideas on how we can make our state and country work better. pic.twitter.com/pYKWeoaLsZ

— Senator Joe Manchin (@Sen_JoeManchin) January 25, 2022

As our friends at Hot Air note, 72 percent of West Virginians support Manchin blocking the Build Back Better bill. It’s a red state, and Republicans control both the House and the Senate, so they’re definitely supportive of what Manchin has done. He might be the only Democrat who could win that office in that state. So, Democrats have the choice between Manchin or a Republican because that’s the reality.

Now, you recently had some on the left, like Bette Midler, who tried to put down West Virginians as “poor, illiterate and strung out.” Gov. Jim Justice had a no-holds-barred hilarious response to her comment.

There’s a greater point that Democrats haven’t been getting regarding their mania about Manchin and Sinema, and Democratic operative James Carville laid it out more honestly and accurately than Midler.

Look, I’m a liberal Democrat. Always have been. But some of these people bitching about Manchin can’t see political reality straight. Six percent of adults in this country identify as “progressive.” Only 11 or 12 percent of Democrats identify as progressive. So let’s just meet in the middle and say something like 7 or 8 percent of the country agrees with the progressive left. This ain’t a goddamn debate anymore. Someone like Manchin is closer to the mainstream than a lot of these people think and pretending like he isn’t won’t help the cause.

Sinema might not have quite the same reaction because Arizona is not as deep-red as West Virginia. But Carville’s a smart guy, and even he gets it. Manchin and Sinema are with the rest of the country; it’s Joe Biden who isn’t. That’s another reason his numbers are in the basement. He’s been governing from the left. Build Back Better was a leftist dream. Manchin and Sinema gave him every chance to bring it back more to the center and Biden wouldn’t do it. That’s why it’s dead.

Americans don’t want never-ending, leftist boondoggles. They don’t want norms ripped apart, and they’ve come to see the guy who was sold as a moderate — Joe Biden — is anything but.