On CNN's “The Situation Room” on Thursday, Sen. Joe Manchin (I-WV) said that Vice President Kamala Harris, the 2024 Democratic presidential nominee, is saying some right things, but that “what she says and what she does are fundamentally two separate things.” He also said that he does not support former President Donald Trump, the 2024 Republican presidential nominee, but “I like a lot of his policies.”
“You know, Kamala Harris has positioned herself as a moderate. Is she moderate enough to get your support?” host Wolf Blitzer asked.
Manchin responded, “She's saying a lot of the right things right now. Basically, what she says is one thing, what she does is another. I think people are taking note of that. It's encouraging that she understands that we need energy policy. This is the first time that the administration or anybody in the administration has acknowledged that because of the IRA, we're producing more energy than ever before, fossil energy, investing in more clean technology than ever before, we're getting more solar, we're getting more storage. We're doing all of that, but we're energy self-sufficient, we've paid off $230 billion in debt with the IRA. Nobody's talking about the finances of this country. That's what's going to downfall. If the United States of America is going to downfall, it's going to be the debt that we're burdening our children with.”
Manchin also said he wanted to speak to Harris directly.[I]If I'm going to make a recommendation, I want to be sure that the person I'm speaking to and working with will follow through. It depends on who they have around them.”
Manchin also said he could not vote for Trump, saying, “If you can't accept an orderly transfer of power, if you can't basically block or impeach the transfer of power of the administration.[n] Insurrection is a problem for me. … I like a lot of his policies.”
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