 So we saw Kirsten Sinema recently explain to the Arizona Chamber of Commerce that when she's considering which legislation to support and not support, you know, she speaks to the business leaders and sees what they think she should do. That's who she's concerned with. But also Kirsten Sinema and her pal Joe Manchin attended a closed-door meeting with a lobbying firm, the National Restaurant Association, the NRA. That NRA, but a different NRA. That's also very nefarious and they fight against worker rights. And we got some inside information as to what was said at this closed-door meeting. And Joe Manchin was chumming it up with the lobbying group here. And he also mocked the $15 an hour minimum wage and name-dropped Bernie Sanders and explained how awesome it was that Bernie Sanders fighting for a $15 an hour minimum wage. It's stupid that he doesn't accept the crumbs that Joe Manchin is offering to him. So as Joe Warner and Andrew Perez of the Daily Post to Report, when Joe Manchin told attendees at the National Restaurant Association National Conference on Tuesday that the minimum wage shouldn't be more than $11 an hour and there should still be a sub-minimum wage for tipped workers, the group's chief lobbyist couldn't contain his excitement. From your lips to God's ears exclaimed Sean Kennedy, the NRA's executive vice president of public affairs who spoke with the Democratic senator from West Virginia as part of a virtual panel entitled Seeking Unity, Conversations on Finding Bipartisan Solutions. The NRA is a powerful, sprawling lobbying operation with $289 million in revenue in 2018 and state affiliates around the country. The organization has been leading the charge to block a federal $15 an hour minimum wage and is also fighting a separate Democratic effort to make it easier for workers to form unions. Manchin, along with Arizona Senator Kirsten Sinema, were added to the NRA conference lineup after they joined six other Democrats in blocking an attempt by Senator Bernie Sanders to add a $15 an hour minimum wage provision to the Democrats' COVID-19 relief legislation in March. Manchin and Sinema's statements at the conference reportedly attended by several hundred restaurant operators from around the country pull back the current on what they say to corporate interests when they're out of the public eye. The NRA event, billed as off the record and closed to press, was the association's annual public affairs conference which means it was designed for lobbyists and focused on shaping legislation. During his talk, Manchin specifically took aim at Sanders for continuing to push for a $15 an hour minimum wage. Quote, we've been having meetings on minimum wage and I can't for the life of me understand why they don't take a win on $11 an hour, he said. Bernie Sanders is totally committed in his heart and sold that $15 an hour is the way to go. Well it might be the way to go Bernie, but it ain't gonna go. You don't have the votes for it, it's not going to happen so they're going to walk away with their pride saying we fought for $15, got nothing. In response, Kennedy gushed to Manchin, you and your staff have been absolutely amazing in working with small businesses including the National Restaurant Association and finding a common sense path so we can wrap up that aspect just saying thank you. I had to vomit for a second, that's just, it's infuriating. And also I should add that during this event Joe Manchin reiterated his opposition to abolishing the filibuster, yeah, not too surprising. Understand what Joe Manchin is saying with regard to Bernie Sanders. Joe Manchin is saying Bernie Sanders knows that I couldn't care less if we raise the federal minimum wage at all, but I'm only gonna budge on $11 an hour. That's the furthest that I'm willing to go. So he could take it or leave it. I'm fine with no federal minimum wage increase. That's what he's saying here. He's saying I'm willing to play with the lives of millions of workers and give them nothing if you don't cave to my demand and just give them a little bit more crumbs. Understand that back in 2016 even Hillary Clinton supported a $12 an hour minimum wage which was insufficient, but Joe Manchin won't even go to what corporate Democrats like Hillary Clinton supported years ago. It's astonishing. And he's throwing around his weight here because he knows that Bernie Sanders most likely is going to have to cave to his demands because he's correct about the fact that if Bernie doesn't cave, then they're gonna walk away with nothing. And Bernie Sanders knows that obviously $11 is better than $7 an hour, but he's trying to use the leverage that he has as budget committee chairman to at least try to get $15 before caving, right? But Bernie is willing to cave and compromise not necessarily because he believes that's what should happen. But because he knows Joe Manchin is a ghoul and he couldn't care less if people actually fucking starve to death on the streets. He couldn't care less. See, when you're playing chicken with someone who doesn't care about the lives of working Americans, you're going to lose every single time because you can try to huff and puff. You can try to hold your ground. But Joe Manchin, you get to say $11. Bernie can say, OK, well, what about $13? Joe Manchin says $11 because I understand Joe Manchin has absolutely no incentive whatsoever to even raise it to $11. So him just proposing $11, he's doing that to make it seem as if he's more reasonable when that is unreasonable. But he's saying, look, you want to raise the minimum wage. Well, $11 an hour. And if you don't want that, OK, that's fine. We'll keep it at $7.25. That's fine too. Bernie knows that this is really an untenable situation. The minimum wage needs to be increased, but getting folks like Joe Manchin who have nothing to lose to budge, it's tough. And Joe Manchin knows that. And in this meeting with lobbyists, he's gloating about that. Essentially laughing about the fact with his corporate donors that, look, I got these leftists like Bernie Sanders backed into a corner because they really, really want a minimum wage increase. I couldn't care less. I don't give a shit about the minimum wage, right? But I thought I'm 11. And if they don't cave to my demands, they get jack fucking shit. Isn't that funny? LOL, I have so much power. I love playing with people's lives. Now, look, what I will say about Joe Manchin, I've said this before and I think that this was demonstrated this week when he caved when it comes to the Pro Act. Joe Manchin, I think probably unlike Kirsten Sinema, is much more malleable. He does come to public pressure easier. That's what he's demonstrated time and again. So what we have to do is make sure that we hold Joe Manchin accountable. Keep the public pressure on Joe Manchin. Make sure that he doesn't just comfortably oppose everything that Bernie Sanders and the leftists in the Senate, the one or two that exist. Make sure that he does feel pressure, right? Make sure that he knows that the public is going to be against him as he actively fights against us. So look, I mean, the takeaway here is that folks like Kirsten Sinema and Joe Manchin, these are soulless ghouls. They absolutely unapologetically and shamelessly represent their corporate donors. And they don't care how bad the situation in the country gets. Their concern is not to serve the constituents who put them in office. Their concern is to serve the donors that help them get elected. And I wish it were that simple, but you can tell from this meeting that he actually gets a little bit of sick pleasure out of swinging his dick around and fucking over American workers. It's it's truly just grotesque. And Joe Manchin is one of the biggest pieces of shit in in Congress. And there's a lot of competition, right? But this is a terrible human being who absolutely deserves no respect and absolutely should feel the wrath of his constituents. Come election time, they should be bombarding his office with phone calls. This is what he's saying to you, like he's trying to boast about how he won one over when it comes to him versus Bernie Sanders. But this isn't really about Bernie Sanders. Bernie doesn't need $15 an hour. This is about you. And this really isn't about Joe Manchin clowning on and mocking Bernie Sanders. This is him spinning in your eye as a voter, as a worker. We shouldn't take this lying down. We should absolutely resist it because this is disgusting.