Squad Members Furious Their Influence Wasn’t Enough to Win Over Joe Manchin on ‘For the People’ Vote

With Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) taking a stance against the For the People Act, some members of the squad, who are also co-sponsors of the bill, have taken to Twitter to take shots at the Senator.

In response to Machin’s call for bipartisanship on voter legislation, Representative Ilhan Omar (D-MN) claims that the only reason Republicans do not support this bill, is that they want to dismantle democracy and undermine elections.

“The reason this bill has no Republican support is because it gets in the way of Republican plans to undermine elections. This bill protects our democracy from Republican attempts to dismantle it.”

The reason this bill has no Republican support is because it gets in the way of Republican plans to undermine elections.

This bill protects our democracy from Republican attempts to dismantle it. https://t.co/I2ES955i1q

— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) June 7, 2021

Ilhan retweeted, MSNBC Host Mehdi Hasan, whose tweet included a video rant about Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ). They have both stood against the majority of Democrats on some policy issues. We can only guess that her retweet of Hasan’s rant is symbolic of her sentiments. In his rant, Hasan asks, why should legislation be bipartisan in US Congress when, on the state-level, it’s completely partisan, he claims.

“I unloaded on Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema and the damn filibuster at the start of my @MSNBC show tonight. Sorry. It had to be done. It felt kinda cathartic, actually. Do please have a watch (and share):”

I unloaded on Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema and the damn filibuster at the start of my @MSNBC show tonight.

Sorry. It had to be done. It felt kinda cathartic, actually.

Do please have a watch (and share):pic.twitter.com/w0g9JeXTFk

— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) June 7, 2021

Squad member Representative Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) also took a swipe at Manchin. In her tweet she adds to a tweet from Manu Raju, Cheif CNN Congressional correspondent, who tweeted out a quote from Manchin’s op-ed, that was published Sunday in the West Virginia Gazette. Tlaib targets the legislation that has been passed at the state level regarding elections in her tweet.

“389 bills introduced in 48 states to prevent Americans from voting. 14 of them have already passed, including one in TX that banned “souls to the polls” led by Black churches. If this isn’t enough for @Sen_JoeManchin to support #ForThePeopleAct then he’s the one being partisan.”

389 bills introduced in 48 states to prevent Americans from voting. 14 of them have already passed, including one in TX that banned “souls to the polls” led by Black churches.

If this isn’t enough for @Sen_JoeManchin to support #ForThePeopleAct then he’s the one being partisan. https://t.co/naq7tPZzyG

— Rashida Tlaib (@RashidaTlaib) June 7, 2021

Tlaib also retweeted activist, Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II, with no added commentary. Barber calls the Senator twisted and asks why he hasn’t done anything to pass the Voting Rights Advancement Act. He calls Manchin’s op-ed an insult to the NAACP because, it was published right before Manchin was set to meet with them. In his third tweet of the thread, Barber says, “Manchin keeps talking about compromise and bipartisanship. It makes no sense. How do you compromise with the very party that’s doing the things the For The People Act would make illegal?”. Barber then disagrees with Manchin’s definition of a bad bill, and claims as long as it holds up the 14th and 15th Amendments it makes it a good bill.

Joe Manchin is so twisted. We need both the For The People Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. He knows the VRA is going to be challenged and is a target for the Republicans. And if he wanted to pass the VRA, why for 8 years has he not done anything to pass it?

— Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II (@RevDrBarber) June 6, 2021

Manchin keeps talking about compromise and bipartisanship. It makes no sense. How do you compromise with the very party that’s doing the things the For The People Act would make illegal? How do you compromise with politicians who want to suppress the vote?

— Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II (@RevDrBarber) June 6, 2021

It’s a bad bill if it violates the 14th and 15th amendments. It’s a good bill if it upholds those things, regardless of who votes for it.

— Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II (@RevDrBarber) June 6, 2021

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) also took her turn. In a photo that looks like AOC is scowling at the back of Senator Manchin a Twitter user captioned “Today we are all @AOC”. Cortez retweeted the picture criticizing a WSJ columnist, who ran the picture originally, for giving her a hard time for not smiling, instead of asking Manchin what “common ground” he was looking for when it came to the GOP. She ended her tweet slamming Manchin accusing him of being in favor of “voter suppression”.

Just thinking about how after this photo ran Wall Street Journal columnists spent more time criticizing me for not smiling enough than asking Manchin precisely what areas of “common ground” he had in mind when he stood up for the GOP.

Turns out voter suppression was one of them! https://t.co/hiMeVNKtss

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) June 7, 2021

AOC also retweeted Mondaire Jones (D-NY) who’s commentary on Manchin’s op-ed was, “Manchin’s op-ed might as well be titled, “Why I’ll vote to preserve Jim Crow.”

Manchin’s op-ed might as well be titled, “Why I’ll vote to preserve Jim Crow.” https://t.co/pS1xEvkwEz

— Mondaire Jones (@MondaireJones) June 6, 2021

The House progressives are not taking Manchin’s stance lightly, they are furious that he stands in the way of passing this legislation. It is rumored that other Democrat Senators, who may not want to vote for the legislation either, are breathing a sigh of relief that Manchin is taking all the heat, including such as Maggie Hassan (D-NH), and Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV).

Many conservatives are happy with Manchin’s stance on the ‘For the People Act’