Maybe? To be honest I'm having a hard time analyzing whether the reluctance to call it manipulation (i.e. actually using that word in speech/writing) would be m

Maybe? To be honest I'm having a hard time analyzing whether the reluctance to call it manipulation (i.e. actually using that word in speech/writing) would be mostly attributable to him being Democrat, or mostly to the word "manipulation" not being all that common in daily speech in general. I feel like people are just far less willing to use that word in a public interview with a journalist than on, say, an English exam.