When pressed further by Tur on what more he expected from Biden, Manchin criticized the administration’s initial response to the immigration surge post-pandemic, suggesting that while the intentions might have been empathetic, the execution was flawed. “Well, first of all, if you want to blame Joe Biden, it’s his fault for what happened, but he did it [in] a sympathetic way, basically empathetic towards what was happening after a pandemic. He tried, and he saw we were getting overrun, we should have shut it down,” Manchin elaborated.
He then referenced an attempt to craft a border security bill that fell through not because of legislative deadlock but because former President Donald Trump allegedly rejected it for political reasons. “So, now he comes to an agreement…a border security bill, that would work, and Donald Trump moves in and says, oh, I’m sorry, I can’t do that, because it’s not good for my campaign or my politics, let’s wait. That’s as bad, if not worse, than making a mistake [in] the beginning,” Manchin stated.
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Concluding his thoughts, Manchin expressed a dire need for decisive action: “I’m begging him now, if this can’t be fixed in Congress, to basically do and declare a national emergency, because the border is of a national concern and a national emergency.” His remarks highlight a deep concern over national security and immigration management, positioning these issues at the forefront of his criteria for endorsing Biden’s re-election bid, and reflect broader anxieties within parts of the Democratic Party regarding the current administration’s policies and effectiveness.
