Former Sen. Joe Manchin, I-W.Va., sharply criticized his former party’s leadership on Thursday, arguing that Democratic mismanagement of the southern border helped set the stage for Americans to re-elect President Donald Trump.
In a candid conversation with Terry Moran at the Texas Tribune Festival in Austin, Texas, Manchin said both parties bear responsibility for the current situation, but he placed the bulk of the blame on the Biden administration for how it has handled the border.
Asked what Trump, in his view, had gotten right, Manchin didn’t hesitate.
“The border,” he replied.
When Moran followed up by asking, “Even the way he’s doing it?” Manchin drew a distinction.
“Nope,” he said. “You said what’s right. Securing the border was the right thing to do.”
Manchin said Democratic leaders mishandled the issue and refused to acknowledge their mistakes.
“They can’t even say we made a mistake,” he said. “I begged them not to do asylum at the border. We’ve never done that.”
According to Manchin, that failure has politically benefited Trump.
The border crisis, he argued, has given Trump “all the cover he needs to do all these outrageous things that are happening.”
“So, the failure of Joe Biden?” Moran pressed.
“The failure of the Democratic Party led by Joe Biden,” Manchin answered.
He also addressed Trump’s “hardcore on crime” posture, saying his own approach as a state leader would have been different from governors who resist federal involvement and call it government overreach.
“When I was governor, if I’d have had a crime-ridden area and I didn’t have the resources to take care of it, I’d invite him in,” Manchin said, referring to Trump’s willingness to deploy federal forces such as the National Guard. “Bring the Marines, bring the Air Force, bring everything.”
When Moran objected that “the federal government isn’t supposed to…,” Manchin acknowledged the concern but emphasized the practical reality he would have faced.
“I know that, but I’m saying if — let me make sure you understand. If I was in that bad a shape and I was in a state I didn’t have the resources, OK, to do it, I wouldn’t be fighting if he wanted to bring people in.”
