On Thursday’s broadcast of CNN’s “Situation Room,” Sen. Joe Manchin (I-WV) stated that while 2024 Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris is saying the right things, “it is basically what you say and what you do are two different things,” and that while he can’t endorse 2024 Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump, “I like a lot of his policies.”
Host Wolf Blitzer asked, “Kamala Harris, as you know, has positioned herself as being more moderate. Is she moderate enough to get your support?”
Manchin responded, “Well, she’s saying a lot of the right things now and everything, it is basically what you say and what you do are two different things, and I think people are looking at that. It’s encouraging to see her understanding you have to have an energy policy. This is the first time that the administration or anyone in the administration has acknowledged, because of the IRA, we’re producing more energy, fossil energy than ever before, more investment in clean technology than ever before, more solar, more battery storage. We’re doing all of the things, but we’re energy independent, and we’ve paid down $230 billion of debt out of the IRA. No one’s talked about the finances of this country. That’ll be the downfall. If there’s a downfall to the United States of America, it’ll be the debt that we’re putting onto our children.”
Manchin also stated that he wants to have a direct conversation with Harris. And “[I]f I’m going to do an endorsement, I want to make sure that I believe the person that I’m talking to and working for is going to follow through. That depends on who they put around them.”
Manchin also stated that he can’t vote for Trump, because “If you can’t accept an orderly transfer of power, if you can’t basically stop or decry a[n] insurrection, that’s a problem for me. … I like a lot of his policies.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett