Leftist Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) finally went off on the more moderate Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) in the wake of Manchin managing to tank the most recent spending package from the Democrats.
While making an appearance as a guest on “This Week” from ABC this past Sunday, Sanders stated that the U.S. is “moving rapidly into an oligarchic form of society.” He went even further to call out Manchin for allegedly taking steps to sabotage the domestic agenda of President Joe Biden and claimed that he was being beholden to the ultra-rich to the detriment of the working class people of West Virginia.
“He didn’t abruptly do anything, Sanders stated about the sudden breakdown in negotiations from Manchin’s side. “He has sabotaged the president’s agenda. No, look, if you check the record, six months ago, I made it clear that you have people like Manchin, [Sen. Kyrsten] Sinema, to a lesser degree, who are intentionally sabotaging the president’s agenda… Nothing new about this. The problem was that we continued to talk to Manchin like he was serious; he was not. This is a guy who’s a major recipient of fossil fuel money, a guy who has received campaign contributions from 25 Republican billionaires. You think this guy is serious?”
Sen. Joe Manchin is “intentionally sabotaging the president's agenda, what the American people want, what a majority of us in the Democratic caucus want,” Sen. Bernie Sanders tells @MarthaRaddatz.
"Nothing new about this." https://t.co/PCOX9tBRwR pic.twitter.com/kvuAscJ74B
— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) July 17, 2022
Martha Raddatz, the show’s host, then shifted gears to show a complete video clip of Manchin issuing his concerns about the idea that the record-shattering inflation was damaging for West Virginia families. Sanders outright dismissed the idea off-hand.
“Look, the same nonsense that Manchin has been talking about for a year,” explained Sanders. “West Virginia, a beautiful state, I have had the pleasure of being there, great people, it’s one of poorest states in this country… Ask the people of West Virginia whether we should demand the wealthiest people and large corporations start paying their fair share of taxes. Ask the people whether or not all people should have health care as a human right… that’s what they will say. In my humble opinion, Manchin represents the very wealthiest people in this country, not working families in West Virginia or America.”
Sanders went further to claim that the voters need to take strides to elect Democrats in order to safeguard the climate. “It ain’t Democrats. It isn’t the president. It’s the future of the planet” he exclaimed. “When Manchin sabotages climate change, this is the future generations what’s going on right now… This is an existential threat to humanity. What this election must be about is whether or not we’re going to vote for candidates who have had to stand up for working people, stand up for the planet and have the courage to take on the billionaire class who dominates our economy… That’s what this election is about… We need more progressive Democrats.”