Over the past several years, American politics has seen a radical shift between the two major political parties in America. The Democrat Party by most accounts has shifted entirely too far to the Left while the Republican Party has gotten more populous. This has led to an increase in blue collar workers who support the Republican Party. It’s also led to more middle of the road Democrats denouncing their party and supporting Republicans in the 2024 elections.

Business mogul Elon Musk, who voted Democrat in past elections and supported Joe Biden in 2020, was one of Donald Trump’s biggest supporters this last election cycle. Joe Rogan, who runs the popular podcast The Joe Rogan Experience, has been a noted Bernie Sanders supporter but endorsed Trump right before Election Day last month. There’s one reason for this and that’s because the Democrat Party has gone too far to the Left to the point where many of their supporters have decided to abandon the party.

The Democrat’s insistence to support radical ideologies such as supporting minors transitioning into another gender, abortion up until birth, and wide open borders, has caused many Americans to feel as though they don’t have a home in the party anymore due to it’s radicalism. Even some Democrat politicians have felt this way, most notably, Sen. Joe Manchin (I-WV). Manchin used to be a Democrat until earlier this year when he decided to become an Independent. He’s now speaking out against the Democrat Party and letting them know exactly where they went wrong to lose the support of him and millions like him.

Manchin Reveals Shift To Extremism As Factor Behind Democrat Party Failures

Retiring Senator Joe Manchin didn’t hold back in his critique of the Democratic Party during a candid interview on CNN’s Inside Politics Sunday. The West Virginia lawmaker, who recently left the party to become an Independent, described the Democratic brand as “toxic” and accused it of working “to mainstream the extreme” in recent years. Manchin, 77, argued that the party has drifted far from the values of everyday voters. “This country is not going left,” he emphasized, pointing to what he sees as a disconnect between the Democratic Party’s direction and the priorities of the electorate.

“I am not a Democrat in the form of what the Democratic Party has turned itself into the national brand — absolutely not,” he declared. Reflecting on his roots in a state that was once a Democratic stronghold, Manchin lamented the party’s transformation. “The brand got so bad. The D-brand has been so maligned from the standpoint of, it’s just, it’s toxic,” he said. He urged Democrats to consider how their shift in priorities alienated him and others like him. Manchin recalled West Virginia’s once-strong loyalty to the Democratic Party, including his family’s admiration for John F. Kennedy, before ideological divisions emerged.

“There was a split. I was never [on] the liberal side of it. I was never [on] the establishment side. So I always had to fight,” he explained. Over the past two years, Manchin became a pivotal figure in the Senate, frequently blocking key elements of President Biden’s progressive agenda. His resistance to multi-trillion-dollar iterations of the “Build Back Better” plan forced Democrats to settle for the scaled-down $740 billion Inflation Reduction Act. This made him a target for progressives, but his influence also helped Democrats maintain a functional majority in a 50-50 Senate during Biden’s first two years.

🚨 BREAKING: Senator Joe Manchin drops bombs on Democrats on the way out of D.C. – Calls them "TOXIC"

"The D (Democrat) Brand has got so bad. It's just toxic.

"The Democrat Party has tried to Mainstream the Extreme." pic.twitter.com/wPp4CmC1yE

— Publius (@OcrazioCornPop) December 22, 2024

As one of the few Democrats from a state Donald Trump won by nearly 40 points in both 2020 and 2024, Manchin faced mounting political pressure. Rather than seeking reelection in 2024, he bowed out of the race, leaving the field to Sen.-elect Jim Justice, West Virginia’s Republican governor who briefly served as a Democrat.

A self-described centrist, Manchin accused his former party of overreach. “They have basically expanded upon thinking, ‘Well, we want to protect you there, but we’re going to tell you how you should live your life,’” he said, comparing the Democratic approach to a paternalistic overreach and the Republican approach to a lack of regulation. “Just some common sense things there,” he added. While Vice President Kamala Harris has campaigned on themes of freedom and criticized Republican social policies, Manchin refrained from revealing how he voted in the 2024 presidential election. He briefly considered a third-party presidential bid with backing from the No Labels movement but ultimately concluded that restrictive ballot rules made it unviable.

Still, Manchin argued for the need for a viable third-party alternative to challenge the dominance of Democrats and Republicans. “The centrist-moderate vote decides who’s going to be the president of the United States. And when [candidates] get here, they don’t govern that way. Neither side does. They go to their respective corners,” he observed. “If the center had a voice and had a party that could make both of these — the Democrat, Republican Party — come back, OK, that would be something.”

Reflecting on his three terms in the Senate, Manchin called his time in public service “an honor of a lifetime.” But when asked if he would miss the Senate, he was frank. “I don’t think so,” he admitted, though he quipped that members of the House of Representatives have it worse. “Those poor guys. I feel so sorry for them over there. They can’t move. They are in [a] dead heat.” Even though Manchin’s time serving in politics is over, it’s still likely he will continue to speak out against the party he was once loyal to. He and other moderate liberals are itching to have the Democrat Party return back to what it once was. But sometimes that seems like it may be impossible unless a major cultural shift occurs within the party.

But as Manchin exits the political stage, his parting words serve as both a critique and a challenge to the party he once called home. Whether Democrats heed his advice remains to be seen. It’s likely his advice will be ignored for quite some time. More extreme Leftists in the Democrat Party view Manchin as a traitor and they don’t want anyone or anything stopping them from shifting further to the Left, even if that means losing critical elections in the coming years.

What are your thoughts on Joe Manchin’s comments about the Democrat Party? Do you find yourself agreeing or disagreeing with them? Let us know down below in the comments!