Back from a few days of vacation, I’ll be trying to catch-up in the next couple of days.

I see West Virginia’s senior senator is still doing what he does best:

SCOOP: Billionaire Nelson Peltz hosted a private fundraising event for @Sen_JoeManchin at his Florida estate.
GOP megadonors in attendance: Steve Schwarzman, Ken Langone & Bernard Marcus. Leon Cooperman attended.
Manchin said he's running for reelectionhttps://t.co/razylgKrHs

— Brian Schwartz (@schwartzbCNBC) April 18, 2022

A click on the twitter feed gets you to the following article from CNBC:

Billionaire Peltz draws GOP megadonors to $5,000-a-plate fundraiser for Democrat Sen. Joe Manchin

Here’s the lede:

Wall Street veteran Nelson Peltz hosted a $5,000-a-plate fundraiser for Sen. Joe Manchin at the billionaire’s sprawling Florida estate last month, where several top executives said they privately hoped the conservative Democrat would switch parties and run against President Joe Biden in the 2024 election, CNBC has learned.

And then there is this follow-up:

After publication of this story, Sam Runyon, Manchin’s spokeswoman, told CNBC the West Virginia lawmaker is focused on helping those in his state and across the country. “With all the challenges facing us now - many of which he has repeatedly spoken out about - he will continue representing West Virginians to the best of his ability,” Runyon said in an emailed statement.

Yes, of course he will; Senator Joe is always looking out for what’s best for West Virginians.

And from Rolling Stone, last week:

“Manchin either strung along his party for months with no intention of actually supporting the reforms or gave indications to his colleagues that he was on board only to reverse his position on multiple occasions.” https://t.co/bEXx3rvhrt

— Rolling Stone (@RollingStone) April 11, 2022