Joe Manchin calls Biden’s presidency a 'letdown' driven by far-left advisers

WASHINGTON, DC: Former Sen Joe Manchin, the West Virginia Democrat-turned-independent, has delivered one of his sharpest critiques yet of Joe Biden’s presidency.

He lamented that what began as a moment of hope devolved into what he called a “letdown” steered by “far-left” aides.

Speaking on the 'All-In' podcast released on Thursday, October 23, Manchin claimed that Biden’s top adviser, former White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain, assembled a liberal team that pulled the then-president away from the alleged moderate instincts that had defined much of his long career.

Manchin says Biden 'lost the will to fight'

Joe Manchin recalled on the podcast, “When I first went over to the White House, I said, ‘Mr. President,’ I said ‘You have the most liberal staff that I've ever seen.’... And he said, ‘Well, Joe, they tell me I have the most diversified staff.’ I said, ‘We're not talking about diversity, sir. We're talking about bats--- crazy.’”

Manchin, who left the Senate earlier this year, said Biden’s presidency faltered because he was unable to rein in his team.

“Your staff is pushing you too far left, Mr President. You’ve never been this far left,” he claimed to have said to Biden.

He added that Biden’s inability to assert control left key decisions unfulfilled.

“We’d agree on something, and I'd ask him a week or two later, and nothing had happened, so, I’d know there was no follow-up. You follow?” Manchin claimed. “So, I knew Ron [Klain] was kind of driving the train.”

While insisting that he still considers Biden a “good man,” Manchin concluded that the president had “lost the will to fight.”

Klain says they followed Biden's agenda

Ron Klain rejected Manchin’s characterization and said that the White House had pursued the same policies Biden had campaigned on.

“Our agenda at the WH was the agenda the president campaigned on — no more no less,” Klain said. “Every Democrat in the Senate voted for it other than Senator Manchin.”

He defended Biden’s legislative record, saying proposals like paid family leave and the child tax credit were “overwhelmingly supported by the American people.”

Manchin describes Biden’s tenure as ‘a letdown’

Reflecting on Biden’s political trajectory, Manchin said that the president’s reported initial promise of unity was consumed by partisan overreach.

“Boy, we got it now,” Manchin said of his early optimism. “Boy, was that a letdown. Went far to the left, and I don't think that was in his heart.”

He suggested Biden’s 2020 campaign comeback after losses in Iowa and New Hampshire and a rebound in South Carolina came with political compromises that tethered him to the Democratic Party’s most progressive wing.

“Just for the sake of being president, I think he had to sign up and his people took him to the promised land of the far left — which has no return,” Manchin said.

Manchin wants Democrats to return to centrist policies 

Manchin warned that Democrats must return to centrist policies, particularly on immigration and border security, if they hope to remain competitive.

“You all have property lines. When you buy a piece of property and a house, you either build a fence or you live in a gated area. You want to protect your property,” he said. “Why can't we protect our borders, but also have a legal immigration policy that works?”

He claimed that many Democrats privately agreed with his views but had allegedly been taken hostage by the far left

“If they don’t get out of their way,” Manchin cautioned, “they’re going to go down in defeat.”