On Sunday, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) appeared on CBS’ Face the Nation. During his exchange with host John Dickerson, Manchin criticized Democrats who may use the president’s alleged “s***hole” remark as leverage (emphasis added):
DICKERSON: Where do you think things are on this negotiation over DACA and the DREAMers?
MANCHIN: I’m encouraged. I mean, first of all, we have a bipartisan recommendation, a bipartisan legislation that’s been worked out after they sat down last week with the president, and it seems to do everything that was asked of them. I would be very, very encouraged that hopefully all my colleagues are gonna look at this in a very positive way, and if the president said what he said as far as, you give me something in a bipartisan way, something you work out, and I’ll sign it.
We hope to get that done and move on, but this is — all the hype that’s going on around it, that’s unbelievable to me.
DICKERSON: When you say it’s unbelievable, what’s unbelievable?
MANCHIN: Well, first of all, someone saying that Senator Durbin or Senator Graham is going to make something up that the President of the United States has said, and thinking that they would do that in order to gin up people one way or another, that’s wrong. … I don’t believe that any Senator would walk in and make something up so atrocious as that, and say this is what was said when it wasn’t said.
So, we’ve got to move on. I mean, if it was said … it was said. It was hurtful; it’s harmful; shouldn’t have been said, but let’s move on. Don’t let it stop the whole procedure.
DICKERSON: Some Democrats would like to use this to kind of push Republicans, make them answer for it … [to] use it as a way to gain more leverage over getting what they want for policy reasons. Obviously also they want to use it to politically hurt the president and his Party.
MANCHIN: John, listen. That’s wrong, too. If my fellow colleagues and Democrats in the caucus want to do something — that’s wrong. That doesn’t fix anything. We have a shutdown looming; we have to make sure this government runs and operates in a functional way. It takes all of us working as Americans.
At first glance, it appears that Manchin is being genuine in his condemnation of the behavior described by Dickerson. Upon further review of his wording, however, it’s clear that he’s really only condemning hypothetical behavior rather than actions that have already taken place.
That said, it’s refreshing to see a Democrat who’s willing to look at this issue in a broader context, and ask that we simply move forward. Many progressives are using Trump’s alleged derogatory remark as a tool to foment anger among their base. Despite Manchin himself dismissing the idea, it’s sadly clear and typical.
The Democrats need to keep their base in a continuous state of unyielding rage until November 6 so they can win back the Senate and gain seats in the House. The best way to do that is to amplify every single outrageous thing Trump says (or allegedly says). Trump’s inappropriate or troubling remarks aren’t simply news for a day, but news for a week, and every error is wrapped around his previous errors, creating a mass, rolling panic. The Democrats hope this strategy will lead to electoral victory in 2018 and beyond.
None of this is to say that the president shouldn’t be held accountable for what he says and does, it’s merely an acknowledgement of the obvious blueprint being followed by Democrats. It’s also important to point out that the tactic of making everything an emergency — regardless of its actual level of importance — leads to fatigue and a certain numbness, which is democratically unhealthy.
So, kudos to Sen. Manchin for not contributing to the Democrat rage machine.