Vice President Harris Attempts to Jumpstart a Trump-like Movement, Instead Falls Short by Ruffling Democratic Feathers

January 30, 2021

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“We want to make the case to the American people across the country and this is a way to do just that,” Psaki said.

“I think [the vice president will] do a number of additional regional calls and regional i

nterviews, as will members of the team,” she responded. There was no more mention of the motivation in choosing specific states. Interestingly, Psaki alluded to increasing local visibility which departs from pre-Trump politics.

A Tale of Two Approaches for the ‘Unification Party’

The interview took U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va) by surprise. Manchin responded, “I saw [the interview], I couldn’t believe it. No one called me [about it].”

Whether the Harris interviews were designed to pressure Manchin and Sinema into backing ‘the American Rescue Plan’ was not immediately clear.

Machin was bothered by the lapse in communication.

“We’re going to try to find a bipartisan pathway forward, but we need to work together. That’s not a way of working together,” he said. “We met [Pres. Biden’s] economic team and they put out what they wanted [for the ‘Rescue Plan’]. Just show us the figures. People need to know. We want to help everybody that needs help.”