But the main purpose was to convince progressives of political reality.

Biden spent a lot of time trying to explain how difficult it’s been to deal with Sens. JOE MANCHIN (D-W.Va.) and KYRSTEN SINEMA (D-Ariz.). “It was a blunt conversation,” said one House Democrat who was in the meeting. Biden is “getting more and more frustrated.”

The source familiar with the discussion added that Biden said things like, “‘I hear your frustration. You don’t have to talk to them as much as I have to talk to them’ — but then using it as a dash of realism to get progressives to come down, like, ‘This is as far as these folks will go.’”