Manchin acknowledges Trump’s potential to defeat Biden in 2024 rematch

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) admitted that former President Donald Trump very well could beat President Joe Biden in November, as Biden continues to trail in most polls.

Manchin, who has been a critic of both major political parties, said on Fox News’s One Nation on Saturday night that like Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA), he sees the warning signs that Trump’s message could win over “pragmatic, hard-working people.”

“They don’t want government jumping on your back, telling you what to do and making it harder for you. They believe in freedom and democracy,” Manchin said. “They believe in all of that. They believe in giving a helping hand, but they believe you ought to get off your butt and do something sometimes.”

The West Virginia Democrat also added that he had warned Biden about his actions in office potentially alienating older generations.

“I’ve told the president, I said, ‘You’ve got to be careful.’ A lot of these bills and a lot of the direction, the executive orders, people that came from the generation that I’ve come from and that you’ve come from is basically John Kennedy asking not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country,” Manchin said.

“We continue down this path, and people are starting to ask, ‘How much more can my country do for me?’ That’s not who we are. It’s not how we have the country we do, and it’s not what I’m willing to sit back and watch it be taken away. So, I’m going to be fighting for basically how much more can I do for my country, and I appreciate what my country has done for me,” he added.

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Manchin had been floated for a potential third-party presidential run after being a critic of both the Democratic and Republican parties, but he ruled out a run earlier this year.

The centrist senator is also not seeking another term in the upper chamber of Congress in November.