Manchin calls for ‘understanding’ in Christmas message after he told Biden he will vote no on BBB

Senator Joe Manchin released a Christmas message Thursday calling for ‘understanding’ and unity after he faced intense backlash for his opposition to the Build Back Better bill.

‘During this season of giving and reflection, Gayle and I are reminded of the importance of family,’ Manchin said in his nearly two-minute video posted to Twitter.

‘We have so much to be grateful for,’ he added.

‘Let us also pray for peace, safety and a greater understanding of one another that brings our nation together,’ the centrist Democratic senator said.

His message comes after a slew of attacks ensued following his definitive opposition to Joe Biden’s $1.75 trillion BBB agenda on Sunday after months of negotiations with the president – including at his home in Delaware.

Manchin also urged in his message that West Virginians to get vaccinated and boosted.

One of the most publicized attacks came from actress Bette Midler, who, in lashing out at Manchin, called West Virginians ‘poor, illiterate and strung-out.’

“Wacko Bette Midler said horrible things about the great people of West Virginia and Joe Manchin, but when I say much less offensive things about her, everybody goes wild,” former President Donald Trump said in a statement Thursday

“Don’t worry, I’ll tell the real facts about her in my book,” he previewed. “I love you, West Virginia!”

Midler’s tweet Monday read: ‘What #JoeManchin, who represents a population smaller than Brooklyn, has done to the rest of America, who wants to move forward, not backward, like his state, is horrible. He sold us out. He wants us all to be just like his state, West Virginia. Poor, illiterate and strung out.’

She retweeted calls to action for people to bombard Manchin’s office with messages against his decision to definitively say he won’t vote for BBB. But soon after he initial tweet, Midler had to tweet an apology following backlash for her attack.

‘I apologize to the good people of WVA for my last outburst,’ the Beaches actress wrote. ‘I’m just seeing red; #JoeManchin and his whole family are a criminal enterprise. Is he really the best WV has to offer its own citizens? Surely there’s someone there who has the state’s interests at heart, not his own!’  

Senator Joe Manchin sent a Christmas message Thursday calling for ‘understanding’ after yielding a series of attacks following his decision to definitively come out against the $1.75 trillion Build Back Better bill

Governor Jim Justice called the recent attacks against Manchin ‘intolerable’.

‘There’s no call for it,’ the West Virginia Republican governor told Fox News Primetime on Wednesday. ‘In all honesty, it’s not tolerated — just period.’

‘From the standpoint of what Senator Manchin did, he stepped up and echoed the people of West Virginia ,’ he added. ‘The people of West Virginia are hard-working people.’

‘The people of West Virginia know what this country is founded around,’ he said. ‘It’s not founded around socialism. It’s not founded by the promotion of something that is so awry that it doesn’t make one bit of sense. It’s founded upon Americans not being average. And with all of that, through all the decades of time, America has risen to the top, have we not?’ 

Justice’s comments also come as a new report Thursday shows groups on the left and right have spent $10 million in West Virginia on attack targeting Manchin – a rarity in a non-election year.

West Virginia Governor Jim Justice defended Joe Manchin on Wednesday, claiming attacks against him are ‘not tolerated’ 

Trump also lashed out at actress Bette Midler for her attack against Manchin and previewed he will reveal ‘the real fact about her in my book’

Actress Bette Midler attack Manchin and his constituents, claiming in opposing BBB, the senator wants America to be ‘just like his state… poor, illiterate and strung out’

Some of those ads lauding Manchin’s bipartisanship in Build Back Better negotiations may have been for naught after he killed the massive social spending and welfare package. 

The backlash against Manchin from Democrats, and in particular progressives, ensued when he finally came out definitively against BBB after months of negotiations with the president, including a visit to his Delaware home.

‘I’ve always said this,’ Manchin explained to Fox News Sunday host Bret Baier, ‘If I can’t go home and explain it to the people of West Virginia, I can’t vote for it.’

‘I cannot vote to continue with this piece of legislation,’ he insisted on the program. ‘I just can’t. I’ve tried everything humanly possible. I can’t get there.’

Baier pushed: ‘You’re done. This is a no?’

‘This is a no,’ he confirmed.

Outrage immediately ensued from Democrats demanding that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer still hold a vote on the legislation to make Manchin vote no in front of the ‘whole world.’

Schumer released a Dear Colleagues letter on Monday saying he would hold a Senate floor vote in the new year.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki lamented on Sunday: ‘Senator Manchin promised to continue conversations in the days ahead, and to work with us to reach that common ground.’

‘If his comments on Fox and written statement indicate an end to that effort, they represent a sudden and inexplicable reversal in his position,’ she added, ‘and a breach of his commitments to the President and the Senator’s colleagues in the House and Senate.’

Many claim she was calling Manchin a liar when writing in her statement: ‘Senator Manchin’s comments this morning on Fox are at odds with his discussions this week with the President, with White House staff, and with his own public utterances.’

‘Weeks ago, Senator Manchin committed to the President, at his home in Wilmington, to support the Build Back Better framework that the President then subsequently announced,’ Psaki added. ‘Senator Manchin pledged repeatedly to negotiate on finalizing that framework ‘in good faith.”

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell told Fox News on Monday that he was shocked by the nastiness in which the administration responded to Manchin’s opposition, claiming it is not the norm to get so ‘angry about losing a vote.’

‘I tell you in the time I’ve been Republican Leader I never get angry about losing a vote because, you know, the most important vote is always the next vote,’ the Kentucky Republican said.

‘So I was shocked at the vitriol and basically seemed to me that they were calling Senator Manchin a liar,’ McConnell added. ‘I think that was not smart.’

‘This is a 50-50 Senate,’ he explained. ‘It’s going to be 50-50 for another year. And believe me, that’s not the way I would have handled it – disappointing both like this.’

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Monday he was ‘shocked at the vitriol’ in which the White House responded to Manchin’s opposition

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki (left) released a statement Sunday suggesting Manchin lied during negotiations: ‘Senator Manchin’s comments this morning on FOX are at odds with his discussions this week with the President’

The massive number of ads in West Virginia aimed at Manchin is no surprise in a 50-50 split Senate where he has become the vote able to compromise much of Biden’s aggressive legislative agenda.

Ads were aimed at many issues including voting rights – like the For the People and Freedom to Vote Acts – filibuster reform, BBB, rising inflation and even David Chipman’s nomination as Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives director.

Both liberal and conservative groups aimed their ads at Manchin, some urging him to vote one way or praising him for his stances on certain legislation – but seeming to lack in the Mountaineer State were attack ads.

That could change after his BBB opposition.