Joe Manchin Masterfully Trolls Joe Biden Before Press Conference Is Even Over

By Sister Toldjah | 6:45 PM on January 19, 2022

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President Joe Biden gave what was officially billed as a “press conference” at the White House earlier today where numerous whoppers were told, many concerning statements were made, and laughable claims about “overperforming expectations” were uttered. But it was something happening on the floor of the U.S. Senate at that same time Biden was taking questions that caused quite a stir and got a lot of people talking.

During Biden’s presser, he was specifically asked about his inability to get “Build Back Better” and the so-called “voting rights” bill passed not just because Republicans opposed him but also because two Democrat Senators – West Virginia’s Joe Manchin and Arizona’s Kyrsten Sinema – won’t budge on preserving the Senate’s filibuster rule, which Democrats abused with wild abandon when Donald Trump was president.

The gist of Biden’s responses to that question and others related to it was that it was going to be a tough job but that he was going to get things done, even if it had to be in “chunks.”

But as Biden was in the midst of taking questions from reporters on his stalled agenda items, Manchin went to the Senate floor, complete with placards in hand and on full display, to once again reiterate his support for keeping the filibuster rule in place.

In other words, while Joe Biden was holding only the second solo press conference of his presidency to date and promising he’d get things done, Joe Manchin was saying – in a nutshell – “I don’t think so, buddy”:

“Allowing one party to exert complete control in the Senate with only a simple majority will only pour fuel on the fire of political whiplash and dysfunction that is tearing this nation apart, and you don’t have to look very far to see how we’re tearing ourselves apart,” said Manchin, who added that if the Democrats’ gambit succeeded, “there’s not going to be any check on the executive branch.”

“Eliminating the filibuster would be the easy way out,” the moderate added later in his remarks. “I cannot support such a perilous course for this nation when elected leaders are sent to Washington to unite our country, not to divide our country. We’re called the United States, not the divided states and putting politics and party aside is what we’re supposed to do.”

Watch portions of Manchin’s speech below:

.@Sen_JoeManchin: "Let this change happen in this way and the Senate will be a body without rules." pic.twitter.com/dxBzzYo1oQ

— CSPAN (@cspan) January 19, 2022

.@Sen_JoeManchin: "We're called the United States, not the Divided States." pic.twitter.com/3UVL1qbdit

— CSPAN (@cspan) January 19, 2022

This almost makes me wish Senators had the option of using sound effects during speeches. An evil Vincent Price laugh would fit in perfectly right at the end. Wouldn’t be very statesman-like, but it’d still be funny to see.

But I digress. The split-screen here basically tells the story of what happened: