In his most defiant act since he quietly broke with every other Democrat in the Senate to vote to confirm Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, Sen. Joe Manchin has delivered a jar of jam to a Republican foe.If the joke doesn’t seem to make sense, let us explain. West Virginia Sen. Manchin was widely seen as a vulnerable Democrat in a purple state in the 2018 midterms, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell singled him out as a target, according to the new book "Team of Vipers: My 500 Extraordinary Days in the Trump White House," written by former White House adviser Cliff Sims.“We’re going to do everything in our power to beat him when he comes up for re-election,” McConnell told the president in reference to Manchin, according to Sims. “We’re going to crush him like a grape.”Manchin clapped back, as the kids say, Thursday by posting a picture of himself delivering literal crushed grapes to McConnell’s office.
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Manchin won re-election in November against Republican Patrick Morrisey by about 3 points.Democrats’ use of social media to target Republicans has evolved quickly since a new wave of young progressives entered the House in January. McConnell himself became the target of a #WheresMitch campaign from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, who led search parties around Capitol Hill for the GOP leader during the government shutdown while McConnell was trying to lay low.Cover image: Screenshot via Sen. Joe Manchin's Twitter