U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) says that he plans on helping the winner of the 2024 presidential election, regardless of who that winner is.
Manchin said as much during an appearance Friday on the Fox News Channel's Your World with host Neil Cavuto.
The senator is facing heavy criticism for the statement.
This all comes after Manchin, last year, announced that he will not be seeking reelection to the U.S. Senate in 2024. More recently, after significant speculation, Manchin also announced that he will not make a run at the U.S. presidency this year.
Manchin, during the Fox interview, said that he wants to do whatever he can to make sure that the next president is "successful."
"Well, let me just say this, whenever our president is elected, duly elected by the people which Joe Biden was done, which Donald Trump was done in 2016, I’m going to do everything I can to help my president be successful," Manchin said.
This raises the question: Would Manchin, a Democrat, for example, be willing to support the political objectives of former President Donald Trump and other Republicans?
The answer is unclear.
But, Manchin did specifically say that he would support Trump if Trump were to win the 2024 election. Suffice it to say that Democrats are not happy about this.
Another question, here, is what Manchin means by "successful." After all, Democrats and Republicans have very different ideas about the direction in which the country ought to go.
Manchin, for his part, said that he wants to help whoever wins the 2024 election to return to "common sensibility."
"I’m going to try to work with them to bring them back to common sensibility," the senator said.
It appears that, by this, Manchin means that he will push the president to adopt more centrist policies. Manchin said:
I’m going to do everything I can to help move them back to the middle and show them where the strength of this country lies, where the voting bloc of the country lies.
Ever since Manchin indicated that he will not launch a presidential campaign in 2024, the question has been whether he will support Biden or Trump, the likely Democratic and Republican nominees. Manchin, thus far, has refused to endorse either candidate, and, based on this Fox interview, it appears that he will continue to ride the fence for the foreseeable future.
