The natural question is this: If Manchin is such a rube that he gets fooled by this, does he even have the cognitive wherewithal to be a Senator in the first place?
What game is Manchin playing here? He seems reluctant to criticize Biden directly, and isn’t actually proposing anything new either. Manchin wants to distance himself from the administration he enabled with the Inflation Reduction Act, and really wants to distance himself from its results, but that’s impossible. The vote on the IRA came down to Manchin; Manchin negotiated its terms; and Manchin endorsed its policies and the lack of control the legislation had on Biden’s use of the bill.
See, I don’t think, “I was a total gull” is really all that great of a defense for him. But it’s pretty much all that he has…