Joe Manchin is breaking his silence about the ugly treatment his fellow Democrats gave him for backing some of Trump’s agenda.

It is a sad commentary on Washington today when agreeing with a member of the other political party brings scorn from your own party.

To be fair, the GOP was tough on Obama and it seems Trump will have to deal with an even more hostile House with Pelosi leading the charge, but that doesn’t make it right.

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Manchin for one promises to be his own man regardless of how many “daggers” the radicals in his own party shoot at him.

From The Washington Examiner: Manchin put the phone on speaker, and the president starts to chat with the kids.

“Not everybody in the room you know is politically for Trump, but in that moment that didn’t matter, just that fact that you’re going to listen to the president talk to a small group of kids. Everyone had a smile on their face and was just so surprised and couldn’t really say anything, we just listened to him and smiled,” Parker said.

Manchin said Trump was very charming with the kids: “He says, ‘I love West Virginia. And I know they like Joe, and they like me, and we’re gonna work together.’ And he told them to stay involved, and he appreciates they were very much interested and excited that they were involved in the process and wanted to know what’s going on.”

The president also mentioned the reason he called Manchin was to thank him for applauding when few Democrats did during bipartisan moments in the State of the Union speech.

“I said, ‘Mr. President, I’ve always stated that I know my state well and that it’s something that my state and I represent the people of my state, I’m going to stand up and be respectful. When I thought the things that you were saying resonated with something I might believe in but definitely my state supports, I’m gonna be there and show the courtesy and manners that I think that I was raised with,’” Manchin said of his personal conversation with the president.

The former governor stood several times and applauded during the president’s speech, in particular on energy projects and banning late-term abortions.

Energy’s a big thing that he talked about, said Manchin. “He didn’t talk about coal, but he talked about energy in general. We’re an energy state and we want to continue to make sure we provide the energy the country needs,” he said.

Manchin said the most “controversial thing I applauded” were the personal issues on life. “Well, there’s just no way that I could ever. I mean how anybody could support late-term abortions?” he said.

Manchin said he “could … feel the daggers” when he stood up for Trump’s remarks calling for legislation to curb third-trimester abortions. “Late-term abortions, my goodness. It would have to be a dire medical situation,” he said, adding that what Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam had supported and what New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has done with late-term abortion bills in their states is “just totally unconscionable to me.”

Manchin said he was a little struck by the Reuters photo he saw taken of him standing during the speech and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez sitting behind him giving him the stink eye: “My goodness. Well, I could hear the boos a little bit, you know, I didn’t know if the boos were for the president or for me standing, I wasn’t sure. But I could sure feel the daggers.”

Stout said one of the things he really respected about Manchin during the president’s speech was how he conducted himself. “That’s one thing I really enjoyed watching was he didn’t agree with everything that the president said, but things he agreed with, he did stand up. Unlike the other Democrats who didn’t, which it’s just being partisan over things that can be good for every state,” he said.