Joe Manchin used to be one of the most powerful senators in Washington DC. He used to have the Biden White House catering to him and the media hanging on his every word in an evenly split Senate – which was obviously because a single vote could turn the tide.

Unluckily for Manchin, a few things have happened. His natural ally, Senator Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, has declared herself an independent (even though she still caucuses with the Democrats). The Democrats in the Senate gained one more seat during the 2022 midterms through John Fetterman, a reliable rubber-stamp for any and all Democrat policies because he will do exactly what Senate Democrats and his wife tell him to do – even though his health is still quite an open question. With that single seat gain, the Democrats no longer have a need to continually coddle Joe Manchin. And, worst of all, Manchin sold whatever centrist credibility he had to pass the so-called “Inflation Reduction Act,” which will not reduce inflation in the least. What it DID do was give Democrats a legislative win, and allowed them to designate gobs of taxpayer money for their pet “climate change” agenda. This, apparently, has Manchin upset.

He dislikes the public perception of the law he insisted on calling the Inflation Reduction Act, which he sees as an energy security measure rather than a climate change-fighting one — a distinction with a political difference in a deep-red, fossil-fuel state like West Virginia.”

Notably, the Manchin-backed law also requires new sales of oil and gas leases that his progressive colleagues might otherwise have opposed. So as he weighs a bid for reelection, he’s touting the power of the bill he wrote in order to puncture Democratic hopes of ending U.S. reliance on fossil fuels.”

At Wednesday’s Senate Democratic retreat, Manchin handed out a one-page summary of his perspective on the proposal he revived last summer in a nearly singlehanded show of force, telling colleagues that the U.S. is on track to energy independence as a result of it, according to a person briefed on the meeting who spoke candidly on condition of anonymity.”

“This is bullshit. So they’re gonna basically starve us out of energy that we have a tremendous, abundant supply of because of their aspirational thoughts?” Manchin said of fellow Democrats who want to quickly transition the nation away from oil and gas. “I will continue to fight and I’ll do everything I can to make sure the public knows what they’re doing and what it will do to you and your economy and your lifestyle.”

Not only does Manchin know that his stock has dropped in his state of West Virginia, he thinks that Democrats should be held to the letter of the law that he helped pass, even to the point of having a private meeting with Joe Biden about it. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

“… the West Virginia Democrat is livid about how his party’s president and his administration are rolling out a party-line bill that served as a crowning achievement for both men — and he’s particularly peeved at a delay in new guidelines on who gets the law’s generous electric vehicle tax credits.”

In addition to lobbying the president at the previously unreported Jan. 3 sitdown, Manchin has introduced a bill that would halt the credits until Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen implements strict requirements for electric-vehicle battery sourcing. As Manchin sees it, using the credit to boost U.S.-manufactured rather than overseas-made vehicles is essential to making the law succeed.”

He’s even talked directly to Yellen several times about the matter. Summing up his approach of late, Manchin said: “I’ve been raising hell.”

“They almost act like they gotta send $7,500 or a person won’t buy a car. Which is crazy, ludicrous thinking for the federal government,” Manchin said in an interview this week. “I just totally and absolutely am disagreeing with what they’re doing.”

Oh dear, Joe, did you really think that this bill wasn’t just full of green energy goodies that were going to be handed out to loyal supporters, and implementation delayed to be the most politically beneficial for the Democrats? You absolute moron.

The bottom line is that Joe Manchin, who has not yet announced what he’s going to do with himself in 2024, when he would be up for reelection in West Virginia, is sort of a man without a country at the moment.

His numbers in deep red West Virginia are not good enough to win reelection as a Democrat. Could he switch parties? Sorry, I wouldn’t take him as a gift right now. His value dropped when Fetterman was elected and the chance for a Senate majority was lost. Also, how would Republicans ever be able to trust him? Manchin is no conservative. His likeliest option is to pull a Sinema – become an independent while still caucusing with the Democrats – while he tries to decide if he can rebuild enough of his credibility in West Virginia for a Senate run as an independent. Yes, he could try running for president, but so long as Joe Biden is still upright, it would be an uphill battle for any Democrat to oust him in a primary. Which means that if Manchin really is serious about running for president, he would have to run as a third-party independent, and meet the same fate as all modern third-party candidates do – splitting the vote of their previous party and handing a win to the other party. I’m sure that will win him even MORE friends on the left than he has now!

Sorry, Joe. You have missed out on whatever opportunities existed for you by waiting too long, and now the Democrats no longer need you, are no longer interested in coddling you, and even though your seat is very much at risk during the next election cycle, I’m not sure they’re going to make any effort to help you. Now you’re mad about the bill – that only passed because of your support – is being marketed in a way that hurts you politically? And the delays in the implementation are making you look like a fool? Hmmm, I guess you should have read the bill before you made your bed in it.

Featured image: Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV), official portrait, cropped, public domain