It's funny how pointless it really is to try and get through to someone who very plainly lacks empathy. You're fighting with someone who doesn't think like you to begin with so it's just kinda easy to forget that calling them out is utterly useless. Calling someone who lacks empathy out for being manipulative is just answering your question with a big fat "YES" by denying it.
I'm going to be the first manipulative person to identify himself as manipulative. It's bound to work in some kind of weird reverse psychology sort of way.