Joe Manchin torches Democrats on the way out the door

For more on Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, watch CNN’s “Inside Politics with Manu Raju” at 8 a.m. ET and 11 a.m. ET.

As Joe Manchin prepares to leave Congress after nearly 15 years, the West Virginia senator — who left the Democratic Party and registered as an independent earlier this year — is further distancing himself from his former party, calling the Democratic brand “toxic.”

“The D-brand has been so maligned from the standpoint of, it’s just, it’s toxic,” Manchin told CNN’s Manu Raju in an interview airing Sunday, citing the shift as the reason why he left the party.

Adding that he no longer considers himself a Democrat “in the form of what Democratic Party has turned itself into,” Manchin — who has long been a pivotal swing vote in the Senate — said the party’s brand has become about telling people what they can and can’t do, blaming progressives for the change.

“They have basically expanded upon thinking, ‘Well, we want to protect you there, but we’re going to tell you how you should live your life from that far on,’” Manchin added.

Manchin cast progressives — a small number of lawmakers within the party who he claims have an outsize influence — as being out of touch with the majority of Americans.

“This country is not going left,” he said.

The former West Virginia governor-turned-senator shared that he was a lifelong Democrat because the party used to focus on kitchen-table issues such as “good job, a good pay,” but claimed Democrats are now too worried about sensitive social issues, such as transgender rights, while taking “no responsibility at all” for the federal budget during the election.

But Manchin said Republicans don’t take responsibility for the national debt either, criticizing them further for lacking common sense on the issue of guns.

“They’re too extreme, it’s just common sense,” Manchin said. “I’m not going to ban you from buying it, but you’re going to have to show some responsibility.”

“So the Democrats go too far, want to ban. The Republican says, ‘Oh, let the good times roll. Let anybody have anything they want,’” Manchin added. “Just some commonsense things there.”

When asked about incoming House Progressive Caucus Chair Greg Casar’s remarks that Democrats would have won the election if the party was more like outgoing caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal and less like Manchin, the senator told Raju: “For someone to say that, they’ve got to be completely insane.”

“The people in America voted,” Manchin said. “They had that opportunity, you know, to vote with Kamala Harris and with Donald Trump. Donald Trump, there’s not much hasn’t been said. You know exactly what you’re getting. He hasn’t made any bones about it.”

He added: “You might say, ‘That’s too far right.’ OK. If that’s the case, then why did they go too far right when Kamala was trying to come back to the middle a little bit?”

Instead, Manchin blamed Vice President Harris’ loss on her inability to cast herself as a moderate candidate after championing progressive issues during her first presidential run in 2019.

“If you try to be somebody you’re not, it’s hard,” Manchin said. He declined to endorse the vice president ahead of the election.

While he dodged questions on whom he voted for in November, Manchin shared he likes Trump and gets “along fine” with him. He added that during the Army-Navy football game last weekend, he told the president-elect, “I want to help any way I can.”

“I want you to succeed,” Manchin said he told Trump. “Every red-blooded American should want your president to succeed, whether you vote for him or not, whether the same party or not, whether you like him or not.”

Manchin is ready for a third party

Before Manchin left the party earlier this year, the senator considered jumping into the presidential race to challenge Joe Biden in the Democratic primary and debated a run again after the president ended his campaign.

But Manchin told Raju that while he saw an “avenue” in people not wanting a repeat of Biden versus Trump and instead looking for a centrist candidate, he didn’t believe he had a chance of making it on the ballot in all 50 states.

Sharing that he had tried to explore a run with the centrist group No Labels, Manchin said he realized that “I have no chance of winning if I can’t participate in all 50 states.”

“So why would I put myself through that, or anyone else, and go down in history books as a spoiler?” Manchin added. No Labels ultimately abandoned its plans to form a third-party presidential unity ticket for the 2024 election.

But Manchin stressed there is an appetite for moderates in Congress and the White House, highlighting the significance of centrist voters.

“The centrist-moderate vote decides who’s going to be the president of the United States. And when they get here, they don’t govern that way. Neither side does. They go to their respective corners,” Manchin said. “So if the center had a voice and had a party that could make both of these — the Democrat, Republican Party — come back, OK, that would be something.”

When asked by Raju whether he thinks it’s time for a third party, Manchin said he believes so.

The senator added the third party would be called the “American Party” and would serve as a space for moderate Democrats and Republicans. But he shared he would not be its leader.

“I’ll be out there rooting. I’ll be the best cheerleader they’ve ever had,” Manchin said.

The outgoing senator will be succeeded by West Virginia GOP Gov. Jim Justice, a flipped seat that will give Republicans control of the chamber, along with a GOP majority in the House.

Asked whether he’ll miss the Senate, Manchin said, “I don’t think so.”

The senator, who once famously said the chamber “sucks,” said the sentiment stands but contended the House “sucks worse.”

“Those poor guys. I feel so sorry for them over there,” Manchin said. “They can’t move. They are in dead heat.”

But as he reflects on his career in politics, Manchin looks at the past 40-plus years fondly.

“It’s been an honor of a lifetime to serve the people of my great state and to be able to contribute to my great country,” Manchin said.

CNN’s Manu Raju, Aaron Pellish, Clare Foran and Matt Holt contributed to this report.

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