Sen. Joe Manchin considers independent 2024 run, warns party system could be nation’s ‘downfall’
Sen. Joe Manchin considers independent 2024 run, warns party system could be nation’s ‘downfall’
West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin has benefited from waiting to reveal where he stood as the swing vote in a chamber closely divided between Democrats and Republicans.
Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia has benefited from waiting to reveal where he stands as the swing vote in a chamber closely divided between Democrats and Republicans.
He’s taken the same approach when it comes to the next phase of his political career: The moderate Democrat has teased possible retirement, a run for reelection to the Senate or even a presidential campaign in 2024 — possibly as an independent candidate.
During a multi-day trip to West Virginia’s capital this week, the 76-year-old expressed growing frustration with the polarized U.S. two-party system.
I agree with him that the two party system is broken, but we don't need more so-called centrists. We already have a center-right party in the Democrats.
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42At least it's not 700,000,000$ yacht that president somehow has, while it would take him 6000 years to get such insane aboumt of money in presidential salary.
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If Manchin peels off enough centrists that he acts as a spoiler, centrists will blame progressives anyway.
35Honestly, progressives will be blamed no matter what happens.
Would love to see progressives break away from Dems and try for a legit 3rd party run to spite this. We’re long overdue for the corporate wing of both parties to converge into the new GOP, and with MAGA imploding it seems the time is right.
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The party system isn't the problem. The ability for your stupid ass to be a spoiler candidate is the problem.
24I think the situation we have with these tiny majorities is exactly because of the two-party system we have. Anybody in his state who doesn't want a hard-right MAGA Senator knows they have to vote for him as long as he's the Democratic nominee.
8Ok but the two party system is why he can be a spoiler. He might be a dickhead, but he isn't wrong that our first-past-the -post election system (which begets two party races) is a huge problem.
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There are three things that are the problem:
1: Citizens United
2: Past the Post
3: Apathy in far to many voters who literally could care less but are the first to bitch about the outcomes.
Fix the first two and you right the ship.
Fix the last one and finally fix the propeller and the rudder.
21Although it doesn't apply to Manchin, don't forget gerrymandering.
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Breaking news: Politician that shit on his party announces party affiliation change.
17Can this guy not choke an a whole watermelon or some shit? He needs to fuck off, and soon.
12The or something you were looking for is coal.
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Someone really needs to unalive this massive piece of shit. If he runs, we all know why. He's hoping to ruin Biden for his rich doner buddies.
His frustration with the two parties being so divided is it makes it harder for him to fence sit and take bribes from both sides. This breathing sack of human excrement is just upset he can't be a greasy ass old school politician voting for whichever side has deeper pockets.
10I'm curious who you'd want to better represent people from West Virginia? Trump won the presidential vote ~69% to ~30% in 2020 (and by a similar margin in 2016). If Manchin retires, he's going to be replaced by a MAGA republican. Even though he is far to the right of the typical Democrat, he's really the best the Democratic party can hope for from that state
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8I mean he's not wrong. The two party system is cracker jacks, but I'm not voting for coal joey.
Rank choice, then introduce a viable third party.
7LOL ok Joe, propose a Constitutional amendment that would make third parties viable.
4Fucking great time to figure that out, Joe. I'm all for ranked choice voting and options like it, but he's just talking about a third party option, which means we'll just feel the negative effects of the party system more quickly, and possibly spoil the election to shoo in Trump for another term. We don't need him running for a third party as though that's the fix, we need to overhaul the voting system as a whole. Things like ranked choice, automatic registration of voters, voting at any location, etc (not to mention getting rid of the EC) would all significantly improve the voting system, and access to it.
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