On Sunday, during an interview on ABC’s “This Week,” U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, of Vermont, blasted Sen. Joe Manchin (W-Va) for “intentionally sabotaging” President Joe Biden’s agenda to the detriment of his own constituents and the country as a whole.
Host Martha Raddatz started off by addressing Manchin’s constant opposition to Democratic legislation.
“Senator, I want to turn Congress and the agenda there. Senator Manchin, of course, abruptly pulled the plug this week on the Democrats’ plans to pass…” Raddatz said before Sanders interjected.
“No, Martha, he didn’t abruptly,” Sanders said.
“Okay, let — okay, he abruptly on Friday did that,” she replied.
“Martha, let me disagree with you. He didn’t abruptly do anything,” Sanders said. “No, look, if you check the record, six months ago, I made it clear that you have people like Manchin, [Kyrsten] Sinema to a lesser degree, who are intentionally sabotaging the president’s agenda, what the American people, what a majority of us in the Democratic Caucus want. Nothing new about this.
“And the problem was that we continue to talk Manchin like he was serious,” Sanders said. “He was not. This is a guy who is a major recipient of fossil fuel money, a guy who has received campaign contributions from 25 Republican billionaires.”
Sanders then warned about the imperative nature of climate change and accused Manchin of jeopardizing younger Americans’ future.
“So, when Manchin sabotages climate change, this is the future generations what’s going on right now,” Sanders said. “In the West, all over the world, we’re looking at significantly increased — more and more heat waves. You’d have to look at more flooding. This is an existential threat to humanity. And what this election must be about is whether or not we’re going to vote for candidates who will have (ph) to stand up for working people, stand up for the planets and have the courage to take on the billionaire class who dominates our economy and our political life.”
“That’s what this election is about,” he said.
Watch the interview in the video below from ABC News.
