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Former Sen. Joe Manchin, I-W. Va., called out Democratic leadership on Thursday, saying they mismanaged the border to the point Americans re-elected President Donald Trump.
Manchin, a former Democrat, spoke with Terry Moran in a candid interview at the Texas Tribune Festival in Austin, Texas. Manchin criticized leadership of both parties, but said the Biden administration shoulders much of the blame for the nation’s border crisis. When Moran asked what Trump had done well, Manchin offered a blunt, yet nuanced answer.
“The border,” Manchin said.
“Even the way he’s doing it?” Moran asked.
JOE MANCHIN TELLS JON STEWART HOW DC DEMS LOST SUPPORT FROM THEIR WORKING-CLASS VOTERS
Sen. Joe Manchin, I-W.Va., speaks during a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on the Special Diabetes Program on July 11, 2023, in Washington, D.C. (Jemal Countess/Getty Images for JDRF)
“Nope,” Manchin said. “You said what’s right. Securing the border was the right thing to do.”
He went on to slam Democrats’ mismanagement of that issue, saying, “They can’t even say we made a mistake. I begged them not to do asylum at the border. We’ve never done that.”
The mismanagement of the border, Manchin said, has given Trump “all the cover he needs to do all these outrageous things that are happening.”
“The failure of Joe Biden?” Moran asked for clarity.
“The failure of the Democratic Party led by Joe Biden,” he confirmed.
Manchin also weighed in on Trump’s “hardcore on crime” stance, saying he would respond differently than governors resisting federal aid and labeling it government overreach.
Chaos at America’s southern border was one of the key issues that dogged Biden’s administration as millions of unvented illegal immigrants poured into America. (John Moore/Getty Images/Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
“When I was governor, if I’d have had a crime-ridden area and I didn’t have the resources to take care of it, I’d invite him in,” Manchin said, referring to Trump’s use of the National Guard. “Bring the Marines, bring the Air Force, bring everything!”
Moran interjected, “The federal government isn’t supposed to —”
“I know that, but I’m saying if – let me make me sure you understand. If I was in that bad a shape and I was in a state I didn’t have the resources, okay, or do it, I wouldn’t be fighting if he wanted to bring people in.”
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National Guard members stand on a sidewalk in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 5, 2025, amid President Donald Trump’s federalization of troops in the city. (Fatih Aktas/Anadolu via Getty Images)
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Fox News Digital reached out to former President Biden’s office for comment but did not receive an immediate response.