Nov 10, 2023
Joe Manchin RETIRES From Senate, Sparks Speculation Of 2024 Presidential Bid
- 11 minutes
Yesterday, Joe Manchin announced that
he would not be running for reelection.
Here's some of that announcement.
>> Speaker 2: I got into politics
because of an argument I had 40 years
ago with my dad.
Joe Manchin owned a furniture store
in Farmington, West Virginia,
a small coal mining town
of hardworking people.
[00:00:15]
And one day our local state representative
came in and asked dad for a favor, saying,
you owe me for all the things
I've done for your little town.
When the man left, I turned to my dad and
said, now wait a minute,
isn't helping Farmington that man's job?
That moment defined the difference
between self service and public service.
[00:00:35]
When I told my dad that I was gonna
run for office, he said, Joe,
politics is a bad business,
I'm telling you right now, stay out of it.
But my dad said that he would support
me running if I made a vow to serve all
the people, friend or
foe, and not just myself.
[00:00:50]
That promise made to my dad all those
years ago has been my guiding light.
After months of deliberation and
long conversation with my family,
I believe in my heart of hearts that I
have accomplished what I set out to do for
West Virginia.
I've made one of the toughest
decisions of my life and
[00:01:07]
decided that I will not be running for
reelection to United States Senate.
But what I will be doing is traveling
the country and speaking out
to see if there is an interest in creating
a movement to mobilize the middle and
bring Americans together.
To the West Virginians who have put their
trust in me and fought side by side
[00:01:27]
to make our state better, it has been my
honor of my life to serve you, thank you.
Public service has and
continues to drive me every day,
that is the vow that I made to
my father over 40 years ago, and
I intend to keep that
vow until my dying day.
[00:01:45]
>> Speaker 1: My, my, this West Virginia
senator's Thursday announcement is
refueling speculation and raising the
question, will Manchin Run for president?
The centrist Democrat could be seeking
a third party presidential run,
a move that would threaten both
Democrats and republican hopes in 2024.
[00:02:01]
Per Forbes, Manchin has indicated for
months he has not ruled
out a presidential run.
Speculation of a presidential run hit
a boiling point in July after the three
term senator announced he had raised
$1.3 million during the second quarter
this year.
Far outpacing his Republican challengers
Governor Jim justice and Rep Alex Money.
[00:02:22]
Manchin had racked up roughly 11.3 million
as of mid-October, according to Politico.
Last week, the 76 year old senator,
who has at time sparred with Democrats and
President Joe Biden teased a potential
run at a town hall event with
the centrist political group
No Labels in New Hampshire,
[00:02:40]
where he told the crowd,
if I get in a race, I'm going to win.
Listen, I want to stop right here and
say one thing,
two things, three things, Sister.
First, he ain't centrist,
two, no label ain't centrist,
and this idea that he told his dad
he was gonna get into politics to be
[00:02:57]
a public servant,
not a self servant person.
All Joe Manchin did is be self servant,
his family runs the Democratic Party,
if you can call it that, in West Virginia.
They have a stronghold on it,
if you try to challenge them,
they cripple you in all manners.
[00:03:12]
So I think this idea that he's running or
continuing to run to be a public servant,
we know this was not an announcement about
his Senate race or his Senate career.
This was a launching pad for that very
potential run as a no label candidate
talking about traveling around the country
to band together the centrist.
[00:03:31]
You can't be a centrist
in America right now,
on one side you have racists screaming
about all types of craziness.
You have MTG and Donald Trump
over there leading that side and
then on the other side you have Democrats
who are scared to speak truth to power.
So, Sister Nina, what do you think about
Manchin with this BS announcement when in
[00:03:48]
actuality we know it was nothing but
a launching pad for his next carrier.
>> Speaker 3: You were peeking in on my
notes because you took all of my points,
exactly, there is no trying to
unify the middle, what middle?
You cannot be in the middle in today's
climate and anything in the middle,
[00:04:07]
you just get ran over.
People have strong opinions about
what is happening in this country,
his quote, unquote,
the middle is really the antithesis of
what the American people are asking for.
We know that poll after poll shows
where the American people are on social
political policy.
[00:04:22]
They are right where so
called progressives are,
they are not in the middle of this.
They understand that the economy
is not working for them,
they understand that this type of
politics is not working for them.
And it's nothing about,
they want to see bipartisanship,
they want to see people
in service of them.
And your point about self service
versus public service, I mean,
[00:04:39]
anytime you have a United States senator
who really was the shadow president.
So he was warming up already for
what he's about to do, and yes,
he will be a No Labels candidate.
And it's just always curious to me,
Mayor, of how this administration and
those big talking neoliberals always
got some smoke for progressives, but
[00:04:58]
they never have smoke for
people like Joe Manchin or Kyrsten Sinema.
Manchin was coddled by this president,
He teased the run even before he just
declared that he's not running again for
US Senate.
But make no mistake, he will be running
again, he will be backed by No Labels, and
[00:05:14]
this is a senator who stood against
enhancement of child tax credit.
This is a senator that stood
in the way of that half
measure climate policy
that this president had.
I mean, you look at it,
he was always there and
they catered to him every step of the way,
so the shadow president strikes again.
[00:05:32]
>> Speaker 1: Absolutely, and
I think I take aim with the author of
that article saying that this is gonna
be a loss or a threat to Democrats or
Republicans when in actuality
it's a threat to American people.
Joe Manchin and his policies and
stances do nothing to benefit
more Americans and
the growing diversity in this country.
[00:05:51]
So I think it's absolutely ridiculous,
even when he tried to deny it in
an interview with CNN, we saw Manchin
denied the rumors that the event in
an early primary state was
tied to a third party bid.
In an interview with CNN, though,
he added cryptically that he
has not ruled out anything.
[00:06:08]
While one Manchin ally told the Washington
Post on the condition of anonymity,
he believed Manchin was seriously
considering all options.
Like I said, we know this type of
politics, it serves one thing and
one master, and it's that person,
that person alone.
Manchin has nothing to offer, Biden lied
to black people in Georgia and all over
[00:06:27]
this country when he said, if I win
this election, if you give me senators,
two senators from Georgia,
I'll put black people as a priority.
And he sweared on his name that he didn't
tell us that we would be held captive
to this senator from West Virginia who
now is about to sell out the party again.
[00:06:42]
And as you said, we see all types of crazy
harms to our sisters that are members of
the pack on the squad, but
we don't see this coming towards
Sinema and also Joe Manchin.
>> Speaker 3: [CROSSTALK] They're
especially not going to do that to
Manchin, see,
they're not going man to man like that.
[00:06:58]
See, it's easy to pounce on
the squad members that are women and
primarily women of color.
Let me just be more direct, black women,
but they ain't got that kind of smoke for
Senator Joe Manchin.
Never have and never will,
he's been playing all up in their
face this entire time making threats.
[00:07:14]
But, another point Mayor and we letting
y'all behind the curtain here because,
see, the Mayor and I,
we don't mix, no point.
We letting you know what this is all
about, this is another important point.
Manchin knew that he was gonna be doing
this all along, that's number one.
And the second point I want our viewers to
understand is that Manchin was doing what
[00:07:32]
he was allowed to do.
In other words, if this president really
wanted to bump up against him and
gas up the jet when he was acting a fool
in that Senate and so called Thornton,
President Biden's policy agenda,
he would have gassed up the jet.
But he didn't want to bump up against
Manchin because Manchin and Sinema,
[00:07:48]
I'm throwing her in here, too.
They were doing the bidding of
neoliberal policymakers and
they got a chance to hide
behind Manchin and Sinema.
One thing about it, they won't be able
to hide behind mansion anymore, Mayor so
it's gonna be interesting.
>> Speaker 1: Yeah and I think,
you know what, you're absolutely right.
[00:08:05]
And we should own that, we should make the
party own that and this administration,
to be more specific.
The idea that one senator could hold up so
much growth and so much process and
progress is absolutely ludicrous to me.
If had this been a Republican senator or
had Joe Manchin been a black person,
[00:08:20]
he would have been ostracized for
stopping the president agenda.
Everything wrong with Biden's
numbers in the polls and
how people feel in this country,
all the things he promised that didn't get
done is absolutely at stake right here.
This is what Joe Manchin said in a press
statement, ahead of a No Labels event.
[00:08:39]
He said the goal of the meeting was
intended to promote common sense solution
to solve pressing issues
facing our nation.
Even though lawmakers on both sides of
the aisle voice concern a third party
candidate could sway voters
away from either party.
A handful of third party candidates
have since launched bids,
[00:08:55]
including Independent Robert F.Kennedy Jr
and Cornell west.
As well as return Green Party candidate
Jill Stein, who launched her bid Thursday.
Listen, I want to say this and be clear,
don't mess up the senator's word and
my words.
We are not against challenging
President Biden in a primary,
that's not what we're saying.
[00:09:12]
We absolutely agree that there needs
to be a primary of this president,
a primary of anybody,
that is part of democracy.
What we are saying, though,
is don't be fooled by the Machin
smoke because it ain't none there.
>> Speaker 3: That's it, Mayor, please
challenge, we wanna see a robust primary
that's what primaries are all about,
the exchange of ideas.
[00:09:29]
And to the extent that
the Democratic Party is
trying to shut down the primary
process is a shame in and of itself.
Now, the mayor and I get that
the Democrats have an incumbent, got that?
And so the primacy is going to
go to an incumbent, got that?
But to just totally shut down all debates,
especially in light of the fact
[00:09:49]
that most Americans that have taken
polls have been very clear that they
don't wanna see a rematch between
President Biden or President Trump.
And Democrats, not the Mayor,
not just the senator, Democratic voters
are saying they do not want this
current president to be the nominee,
[00:10:07]
asking the question,
can we find anybody else?
And so the arrogance within
the Democratic Party is also, Mayor,
gonna be something that is going to
come and bite this party in the behind.
Because they refuse to see the handwriting
on the wall, but one thing about Manchin,
[00:10:22]
he hasn't been shy about letting
them know what he may or may not do.
Months ago, he said that all
options were on the table for him,
so this is of no surprise.
Can you imagine,
now we know that Lyndon Baines Johnson,
President Johnson, hey,
he wasn't no lover of black.
[00:10:41]
He owned tape and all that, calling us
the N word and all that, a Southerner.
But can you imagine President Joseph Biden
being the one that has to push through
the Civil Rights act and the Voting Rights
act in the 60s, can you imagine that?
I mean,
it took a president with the chutzpah,
[00:10:57]
with all the warts of an LBJ to push
through that kind of legislation.
If it was left to the leadership of today,
including this current president,
black people will be SOL.
>> Absolutely, we got to admit that, like
you're saying, if Joe Biden was tasked
[00:11:13]
with that, we wouldn't be having
this conversation, probably.
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