if some random dude on twitter is a bernie or buster folks are up in arms, but a democratic senator saying they'd rather vote for trump or sanders? eh, no big deal.
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This is your take away from this thread ...? A thread created specifically to call out West virginia senator Joe Manchin for not getting behind Bernie Sanders 6 months before the first Democratic primary?
Because, like, y'know, it's the opposite of what you're saying. There's a ton of righteous vitriol being lobbed at Manchin for this comment, I think justified in some ways, but impractical in other ways. It's six months before the first Democratic primary, and West Virginia is a state that's going for Trump regardless of how Joe Manchin, a single vote, votes. Manchin holding his senate seat is waaaaaay more valuable than Manchin saying he'd vote for Sanders or not more than one year from the general election while Bernie Sanders sits in ~3rd place in the Democratic primary.
Still, I get why Bernie Sanders supporters are up in arms about it, of course they want the support of every Democratic senator and congressman, and anytime one of them doesn't endorse him, it's a cataclysmic event for them. Just like how a bunch of Republican senators and congressmen were apprehensive of backing Trump in 2015, I think if Sanders comes in, sweeps the primaries, and storms the general election like Trump did in 2016, you'd see candidates like Manchin either back off those comments or quietly endorse him for president without losing his support in his state. But until then, fat chance.