 So there were rumors about Joe Manchin supposedly threatening to leave the Democratic Party And he's kind of using his status in the party as a bargaining chip Reportedly when it comes to negotiations regarding the Build Back Better Act now He denies this and I'll tell you what he said in response to this, but first I want to get to the article this is from Mother Jones who broke the story and David Corn writes in recent days Senator Joe Manchin has told associates that he is considering leaving the Democratic Party if President Joe Biden and Democrats on Capitol Hill do not agree to his demand to cut the size of the social infrastructure bill from 3.5 trillion to 1.75 trillion according to people who have heard Manchin discuss this Manchin has said that if this were to happen he would declare himself an American independent and He has devised a detailed exit strategy for his departure He told associates that he has a two-step plan for exiting the party first He would send the letter to Senator Chuck Schumer the top Senate Democrat removing himself from the Democratic leadership of the Senate He is vice chair of the Senate Democrats policy and communications committee Manchin hopes that would send a signal He would then wait and see if that move had any impact on negotiations after about a week He said he would change his voter registration from Democrat to independent It is unclear whether in this scenario Manchin would end up caucusing with the Democrats Which would allow them to continue to control the Senate or side with the Republicans and place the Senate in GOP hands in either event He would hold great sway over this half of Congress. So if this is actually true and again He says it's not I think that this is an interesting tactic But it really depends on the details if he's threatening to become an independent and leave the party But still caucus with Democrats that doesn't really change anything. Okay, bye We don't want you but if he chooses to caucus with Republicans And he gives control of the Senate over to the GOP and makes Mitch McConnell the Senate majority leader again That's kind of different. So it really depends on the details And I think how but hurt he is would determine the route that he takes here But none of this may matter because he says this isn't the case So NBC News reporter Frank Thorpe says Manchin to Burgess Everett and me on the report He is threatening to leave the Democratic Party if his demands are not met on infrastructure I can't control rumors and it's bullshit bullshit spelled with a B U L L Capital B and here's the video Okay, so we've seen the video we've read the story. So what do I think? I don't believe him. I think he's lying. I think that This article is too detailed the specifics there were If this were just completely fabricated there wouldn't be that much information there'd be rumblings But it doesn't seem like they're just going off a Little bit of inklings of here and there. Maybe he'll leave the party. It seems like there's a lot of information Maybe he'll leave the party. It seems like there was a detailed plan that they got access to I mean, this is all speculative I don't know for sure But I think that he's probably trying to hold his cards close to his chest And he doesn't want to reveal that yet because they're still negotiating the build back better act or Maybe he was planning this but he kind of did get what he wants So now there's really no need to leave the Democratic Party So he's denying these rumors because he doesn't want to hurt negotiations I mean, there's also an article from truth out on the same day Where Biden announced that the new reconciliation bill that he's proposing is slashed nearly in half So the number is between 1.75 to 1.9 trillion and this range is exactly what Joe Manchin Allegedly demanded that would stop him from leaving the Democratic Party So I mean if he really did threaten to leave the Democratic Party, then it seems like the strategy worked And now he doesn't have to so of course he's gonna shoot down these rumors But I mean, it's just overall it goes to show you what a piece of shit He is if this is indeed true now the article he's denying it Joe Manchin has lied many times throughout the course of his career So I genuinely don't think he's telling the truth about this I actually do think that the reporting from Mother Jones is probably accurate. It seems legitimate This is something that many people speculated that Joe Manchin could do if Negotiations didn't go his way on you know throughout throughout the tenure of the Democratic Party Controlling the Senate. So it's not that shocking. So for him to say, oh, well, this is bullshit. It's rumors I really doubt that but nobody can know for sure either way Joe Manchin is still a piece of shit regardless If he chooses to leave the Democratic Party or not But honestly if he if he would leave the party identifies an independent instill caucus with Democrats That is inconsequential as I said, but if he truly wants to fuck them over He would caucus with the GOP and then that is kind of that's a really low blow Handing control to Mitch McConnell because you don't get what you want after you got everything you wanted in the bipartisan infrastructure proposal That's incredibly fucked up, but it's not below Joe Manchin He is someone who's scummy enough to do something like this and you know It's just all around not shocking. In fact, it's pretty predictable for someone like Joe Manchin