Washington, D.C. just got thrown for a loop. This news will change everything.
Because Joe Manchin’s presidential candidacy announcement has Democrats quaking in their boots.
A recent story claims that Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., is privately suggesting that he might use a “health scare” for President Biden or a “conviction” for former President Trump to launch his presidential campaign this year.
“Privately, the West Virginia Democrat has told people that a Joe Biden health scare or a Donald Trump conviction could give him an opening to run as an independent this year,” said CNN.
The West Virginia senator told the news organization that he “absolutely” envisions himself as presidential material and is assuring prospective voters that he had a significant say in “everything” that was included in Biden’s legislative plan.
In 2021, for example, Manchin voted against the For the People Act, one of several pivotal votes on which he disagreed with the Democrats with Biden as president. In contrast to his more liberal Senate colleagues, Manchin has presented himself as a moderate who supports national unity.
Manchin used similar language when he told CNN that Biden is a “good, decent man” but that he is worried that “far, far-left liberals” will return to the White House under a second Biden administration. Some on the Left are concerned that Biden’s prospects might be hampered if the West Virginia Democrat runs on a third-party ticket, like under the bipartisan No Labels banner.
When asked about Trump’s prospects of being president in 2024, Manchin said they should be “very much concerning to every human being and every person who basically loves the country that we have, the life that we have, and trying to have a future for our children and future generations.”
According to someone “familiar” with Manchin’s plan, the senator is only considering a presidential bid.
“He’s touring the nation,” the source informed CNN. “This is beyond the Beltway Bubble game.”
As a Democrat hailing from one of the nation’s most reddest states, Manchin has maintained a singular position in the deeply split United States Senate during the Biden administration. The Republicans would have held a one-seat majority upon Biden’s inauguration in 2021 had he not been re-elected in 2018.
In the months running up to November, Democrats like Vice President Kamala Harris are making abortion a central issue, and Manchin joined them in weighing in on the topic.
“No matter what side of the fence you might be on, where you are for philosophically, we learned to navigate that,” said Manchin in a discussion with CNN.
“In the most divisive time in our country right now, when they’re trying to pull us further apart, why would you do something such as that?” Manchin continued, saying that the Supreme Court’s ruling to overturn Roe v. Wade was significant.
Following Super Tuesday on March 5, Manchin is hinting at a potential third-party presidential run. With Trump’s victories in Iowa and New Hampshire this month, the nation seems destined for a repeat in 2020.
“Super Tuesday pretty much confirms whatever is going to happen, what we believe will happen, and we’ll see where we go from there,” Manchin informed reporters right before the New Hampshire primary.
A Joe Manchin candidacy is likely something Donald Trump would welcome for a variety of reasons.
Firstly, it wouldn’t be a threat to Donald Trump at all. A Manchin candidacy likely doesn’t take nearly as many votes away from Donald Trump as it would from Joe Biden.
Secondly, chaos for the Democrats at the top of the ballot in November this year bodes well for Republicans in Congress trying to flip Democrat seats or hold on to their own against Democrat challengers.
There’s nothing Donald Trump would like more than to skate his way into the White House with a conservative-friendly Congress. Just imagine how absurdly rabid a Democrat majority in Congress would be with Donald Trump in the White House.
You could pretty much expect a million “investigations” and “impeachment inquiries” into Donald Trump to be launched before his inaugural speech is over.
Stay tuned to the DC Daily Journal.
