Manchin Says Biden Needs To Move On Border To Get His Support

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) on Friday suggested a way for President Joe Biden to get an endorsement from him and others. According to the lawmaker, he needs Biden to move to the center and admit that he made a mistake at the border.

Manchin made the remarks on MSNBC’s “Katy Tur Reports” when host Katy Tur asked him why he has not endorsed the president yet.

“So, are you waiting for him to move, is that what you’re holding your endorsement for?” Tur asked.

In response, Manchin stated, “I think he needs to move. I really do. I think the people want [him] to say, we made a mistake at the border, a big mistake at the border, but he’s willing to fix it.”

Later in the interview, Tur asked, “[W]hen you’re asking about immigration, what more do you want Joe Biden to do?”

In response, Manchin found a way to absolve Biden of his border failures while heaping the blame on former President Donald Trump for an immigration bill that failed to pass Congress.

“Well, first of all, if you want to blame Joe Biden, it’s his fault for what happened, but he did it [in] a sympathetic way, basically empathetic towards what was happening after a pandemic. He tried, and he saw we were getting overrun, we should have shut it down. So, now he comes to an agreement…a border security bill, that would work, and Donald Trump moves in and says, oh, I’m sorry, I can’t do that, because it’s not good for my campaign or my politics, let’s wait. That’s as bad, if not worse, than making a mistake [in] the beginning,” he stated.

“So, with that, I said, okay, let’s fix it. I’m begging him now, if this can’t be fixed in Congress, to basically do and declare a national emergency, because the border is of a national concern and a national emergency,” he added.

Manchin later suggested that he would make an endorsement at some point, as he said that he has “never sat on the sidelines.”

Before delving into the border, Manchin complained that Biden has gone “too far left.”

👀 Manchin still not closing door on endorsing Biden, but says he’s gone ‘too far left’ | The Hill https://t.co/btfCEHPqJt

— Jason Miller (@JasonMillerinDC) April 13, 2024

“I want Joe Biden to be the Joe Biden I’ve known forever, okay? Always working a deal, always wanting to bring people together, which is how he campaigned in 2020,” he stated, claiming that the president’s staff “is taking him too far left.”