Manchin: ‘We all should be concerned about the support that Donald Trump has’

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) warned Sunday that people “should be concerned” about how much support former President Trump has.

CNN’s Jake Tapper asked Manchin how worried Democrats should be about President Biden’s reelection bid as multiple recent polls show Trump leading Biden in a number of states, including the battleground states of Michigan and Georgia. Manchin suggested that another Trump presidency could be a threat to U.S. democracy.

“I think we all should be concerned about the support that Donald Trump has,” Manchin said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “And basically, he’s told us who he is. And when a person tells you who they are, you ought to believe them.”

“It’s not democracy as we know it, it’s not how the country has been able to survive through this experiment of ours for over 230-plus years,” he added. “And here we are today now being threatened. Can democracy survive? We’ve gone through some tough times, Jake.”

Manchin’s comments echo the concerns of other Democrats and Trump critics who have said Trump is a threat to democracy. A recent poll from The Associated Press and NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that 62 percent of voters believe that democracy could be at risk depending on who wins the 2024 presidential election.

In recent weeks, Trump has tried to flip the switch on his opponents by claiming that Biden is actually the bigger threat to democracy.

Manchin also urged Americans to not give up hope on U.S. democracy despite his concerns.

“I look around the world and see basically where the trouble spots are, is where people have given up hope … they can’t get out of this quagmire of poverty,” he said. “And we can’t let that happen in this country either. And that’s the thing that I’m concerned about.”