Joe Manchin recalls ‘hostile’ Biden reaction when he refused to back ‘Build Back Better’ boondoggle

Some have likened disgraced former President Joe Biden to the patriarch of a crime family, and the thuggish tactics that he unleashed on retired Senator Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) could have been ripped directly out of the mob’s playbook.

Manchin ran afoul of Biden over his opposition to his 2021 “Build Back Better Act,” a $2 trillion-plus monstrosity that the geriatric career politician and his far-left handlers tried to ram through during the first year of his presidency.

In his recent book “Dead Center: In Defense of Common Sense,” the West Virginia moderate wrote of a tense private White House meeting when he told Biden that he couldn’t back the bill, telling him “this isn’t your legislation. It’s Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren’s. I’ve known you for a long time, and I do not believe that you believe this is the right thing for the country,” according to excerpts published by ABC News.

“He grabbed my arm,” Manchin wrote. “‘Joe,’ he said, ‘the country needs you.’”

“When the most powerful man in the world is putting the weight of the world on you, it causes you to pause. I took a deep breath and grabbed his arm. ‘Mr. President,’ I said, ‘the country needs you too,’” he wrote. Later, he went on Fox News to announce that he would not support the bill, infuriating the Biden White House.

The retired Democrat said that he received what he described as a “hostile” voicemail from the notoriously hot-tempered president, who was “irate” when he returned the message.

“I told him I was frustrated with the White House’s outreach,” Manchin wrote, saying that Biden’s public criticism, calling him out, “put my family in harm’s way.”

Manchin spilled the beans on the pressure and intimidation that he faced during an appearance on the “All In” podcast, recalling how the Biden team turned to its allies in the media and activist shock troops to intimidate him into changing his mind.

WOW! Fmr. Sen. Joe Manchin says Biden started a pressure campaign against him w/ death threats & paid protestors for not supporting the ‘Build Back Better’ spending bill

“They tried for eight months to beat up me. I mean, I had to have security.” pic.twitter.com/XY2jvhNW5j

— Chief Nerd (@TheChiefNerd) October 24, 2025

He told host Chamath Palihapitiya that after he refused to back the “Build Back Better” boondoggle that “they tried for eight months to beat up on me. I mean, I had to have security.”

“It’s pretty intense, but I can tell you one thing: when every day the Capitol Police call you and say your death threats are serious right now, ‘We’ll meet you down where you live, and we’ll bring you to work, and we’ll take you back home,’ you know things are pretty serious,” Manchin said.

“I never wanted to know the extent, but I knew they were serious. Then one time they said, ‘This is really getting serious now, because now we got things, they know where your children go to school, they know where your grandchildren are, where your kids live,’ he continued. “And I’m thinking, ‘Oh my God, this is crazy.’”

Manchin recalled that he was “attacked by canoes” manned by climate cult activists who harassed the senator and his family at their home.

“But Joe, I just want to understand, though,” the host asked. “Do you think that these are just random acts, or do you think that it’s an organized pressure campaign?”

“No, it was organized. They were paid,” Manchin responded. “Because a lot of my friends who live down at the river, on the Potomac River, with me on the boat, they’d say, ‘How can I get a job with you? How can I do this if I want to protest?’ They said, ‘Oh, just sign up and get $15 an hour.’ I couldn’t believe it.”

The BBB was a bill that would ultimately fail but later be resurrected in part as the Orwellian-named “Inflation Reduction Act,” which passed in 2022, with Manchin betraying his principles and falling in line with the rest of the Democrats.

Staff Writer

Chris Donaldson is an ordinary American who is concerned about rampant corruption as well as the ongoing attacks on our way of life by those who have contempt for our hard-earned freedoms. A Navy veteran, he has been a frequent contributor to conservative websites and resides in Florida.

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