Manchin: Biden’s coal comments are ‘divorced from reality’

JOLIET, Ill. (AP) — President Joe Biden is being criticized by a powerful fellow Democrat, West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, for being “cavalier” and “divorced from reality.” Manchin is leveling that criticism after Biden vowed to shutter coal-fired power plants and rely more heavily on wind and solar energy in the future. The powerful coal-state lawmaker says Biden’s words at a campaign stop Friday in California “ignore the severe economic pain” for people from higher energy prices and are why Americans “are losing trust” in Biden. Manchin’s rebuke of his party’s leader comes at precarious time for Democrats on the final weekend of campaigning before Tuesday’s elections that could put Republicans back in power in Congress.