Joe Manchin: Any Voting Rights Legislation Has To Make Trump Supporters Happy

[Celerity]

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/joe-manchin-for-the-people_n_606f21c8c5b6865cd29a39e7?hhc

Congress shouldn’t pass voting rights legislation unless it helps Donald Trump supporters trust that their votes will be counted, according to Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.). “Our ultimate goal should be to restore bipartisan faith in our voting process by assuring all Americans that their votes will be counted, secured and protected,” Manchin wrote Wednesday in a Washington Post op-ed about his opposition to killing the Senate filibuster.

But Manchin didn’t mention that many Republicans have lost faith in the voting process largely because Trump lost in the 2020 presidential election and then lied about it relentlessly. The lies fuelled a mob that ransacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, interrupting lawmakers as Congress certified the final result. Manchin’s top concern about Democrats’ For the People Act ― which he has said he supports ― seems to be that passing it without Republican backing would overly upset these volatile Trump supporters. He said so even more directly in a brief interview last month in the Senate basement. “The only thing I would caution anybody and everybody about is that we had an insurrection on January 6, because of voting, right? And lack of trust in voting?” Manchin told HuffPost then. “We should not, at all, attempt to do anything that would create more distrust and division.”

Manchin’s argument is essentially the same thing Republicans in Georgia and elsewhere have said in an effort to justify new restrictions on ballot access: that they have to make changes to restore confidence in elections, even if the lack of confidence results from fake fraud claims. It’s the definition of pandering. It’s indulging a mass delusion. Most people tell pollsters they think elections are fair. Overall trust in elections has gone up and down over the years, but it’s been much lower among Republicans since Trump’s loss, likely because Trump has falsely claimed the election was stolen. Democratic confidence in election results similarly declined after 2016, but most still said that election had been fair.

Democrats control the Senate, but with only 50 seats, they need 10 Republicans to break a filibuster. Most Senate Democrats want to change the rules so they can pass bills with a simple majority ― especially the For the People Act, which would expand ballot access and block many of the new voting restrictions that Republican state legislatures are putting in place. But Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) can’t change the rules without all 50 Democrats on board. Manchin and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) are holding out, saying their party’s policy goals aren’t worth enacting without some Republican support.

snip

Link to tweet

Manchin is essentially saying that the people who stormed the Capitol had legitimate grievances about voting, and Congress has to honor those when passing voting rights legislation

[SoCalDavidS]

1. So, Elect Dumbshit Don To Another Term?

That's pretty much the only way they'll be happy and trust the vote.

As Bugs would say.....What A Maroon!!

[Peregrine Took]

2. I wonder how he's treated by fellow Dems in the Senate?

I bet he's waited his whole life to wield the reigns of power like this.

What a small, pathetic little man.

[wryter2000]

5. God I hope we win two more seats in 2022

Unfortunately, people, largely people of color, will have to make super-human efforts to vote if we're to have any chance of that.

I have to figure out what I can do from Oakland, California to help out. I made phone calls to NC for the November election and GA for the January run-off.

[wryter2000]

3. This is fucking embarrassing

Someone in my party pandering to racists. Someone in my party wanting us to go backwards to refuse African Americans the right to vote. I wish someone would sit him down and teach him some history

I'm team Clyburn.

[spanone]

4. Hey joe, you mean just like the republcons are doing on the state level?

[Ninga]

6. Good 'ole Joe. Just joe-ing on, cause he can. I want to say something intelligent about him but I'm

coming up empty.

[wryter2000]

10. All I have is rage

I always say there's simple ignorance about racism and willful ignorance about racism. This is the latter. Disgusting.

[ProudMNDemocrat]

7. Who the fuck is Joe Manchin kidding?

That Democrats have to take into consideration the feelings of Trump voters when passing Voting Rights Bills?

Earth to Joe Manchin! It is NOT Trump voters states are going after. It is those who vote for Democrats in general. African-Americans, POC, the poor, the young, etc.

Someone talk to Manchin that Republicans do not intend to be bi-partisan on any bill the House passes.

[Crunchy Frog]

8. January 6 wasn't about voting, it was about lying.

These laws are about keeping the "wrong kinds" of people from voting. Maybe I should stop voting just to make Manchin happy. It's not like my vote will count anyway if he gets what he wants.

[Claire Oh Nette]

29. This...

The former president lied. He sowed distrust and lied.
GOP senators and congressmen lied.
There was no fraud.
White men's votes have always counted.
Their votes counted.They voted for a loser. They lost.
The insurrection was to take over the government because their guy didn't win. They attempted a coup. It had zero to do with voting an everything to do with the fear of Biden winning and dying and a black woman VP might succeeding him.

[MFM008]

9. doesnt he REALIZE

NOTHING is going to make maggot supporters happy that democrats try to do?
N O T H I N G.
ZERO

[bullimiami]

11. WTF is wrong with him? Im dead serious. Someone call for a psych exam.

[BlueLucy]

12. My doctor asked me to keep stress and blood pressure low.

Manchin does not help me!

[riversedge]

13. The OP is too broad--it does not reflect what Joe M. actually said.

happy??

[East-A-Squared]

14. No working with the fuck your feelings crowd, Joey!

[Mad_Machine76]

15. Errrrrrrr

[no_hypocrisy]

16. Joe, get a better story.

Trump's supporters' votes WERE counted and he lost!

[sop]

17. Joe really meant to say:

"President Trump has the strongest support percentage-wise in our state than any other state in the nation," Manchin said. "He won West Virginia by almost 43 percentage points, and he's been carrying close to 60 percent approval." (West Virginia Public Broadcasting, January 29, 2019.)

[Irish_Dem]

21. My thoughts exactly.

What does he want?
What is his end game?

[Blue Owl]

19. Get a brain, Manchin

[Towlie]

20. Here's a ballot format that would make Trump supporters happy:

 
←

[Celerity]

23. 1938 Austrian Anschluss referendum

"Do you agree with the reunification of Austria with the German Reich that was enacted on 13 March 1938 and do you vote for the list of our leader Adolf Hitler?"

[Towlie]

24. I was referring to the format, where the vote they're looking for is front and center, and enlarged.

 
←

But yes, that is what Wikipedia says.

[Celerity]

28. oh, yes, I know, I was just translating it, sorry

[rickyhall]

22. There was an insurrection because Trump ordered it, Dumfuck.

Admit it, you're an undercover repug.

[bluestarone]

25. Thank God we got the covid package passed because

It looks more and more like that's ALL we will pass until AFTER 2022 THANKS MUCHIN

[vercetti2021]

26. Do I even need to comment?

[ColinC]

27. "We should not attempt to do anything that would create more distrust."

Agreed. The only way we can do that is by passing HR1 as is and assuring people will have faith in the voting process. That being said, the terrorists didn't act out because they didn't have faith in the voting process as much as it was because their candidate lost. Surely Manchin is smart enough to know that and he isn't trying to cave to terrorist demands?