Thursday on FNC’s “Special Report,” outgoing Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) addressed speculation he would seek the White House as a third-party candidate in 2024.
The West Virginia Democrat gave low marks to the two parties’ frontrunners, President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump.
He told FNC host Bret Baier he had little confidence in either and warned of consequences if Trump were to win a second term.
“Well, first of all, we don’t know on Super Tuesday who the two candidates may be on the Democrat and Republican side,” Manchin said. “But right now, I guess all odds are they will be Donald Trump and Joe Biden. And I’m as honest as I can be with you, Bret. I believe that Donald Trump being elected again would destroy democracy as we know it. I — I’m concerned. I’m very scared because he’s already said what he would do. He’s going to use the power of the office for revenge. He’s going to basically — he doesn’t believe that — the only election — what he believes is, the only fair election is the one he won. And he doesn’t believe in the rule of law, to where the law only pertains to everybody but him.”
“It’s a horrible situation,” he continued. “And I just — I’m scared of that. That would destroy our country as I know it. And Joe Biden is not the person when he came there saying, I know how it works, I can bring the country together, I’m a centrist. Well, he’s pulled clear far to the left. So, let’s see what happens. Will anybody change? I don’t know. Will the rhetoric change? But if we don’t mobilize the moderate, sensible, what — we’re going to call them the radical middle, OK, the radical middle. Those are people that make commonsense decisions, that run their life, that run their family, that run their businesses, from the center-left, center-right, not from the extremes.”
“And that’s what’s happened,” he added. “And the business in Washington is too darn good. The Republican business and the Democrat business is pretty darn good here. And they’re not going to change their model. So, unless we push it, it’s not going to — nothing will change.”
