Joe Manchin laments Biden presidency as a missed opportunity squandered by 'far-left' who had president's ear

Former Sen. Joe Manchin, I-W.Va., lamented that former President Joe Biden’s presidency was influenced by staffers who pushed far-left policies rather than the more moderate positions of his past.

Biden served in American politics for decades, but his career ended with a presidency that some argue was co-opted by a liberal agenda that were out of step with American voters. In November 2021, Manchin shared his wish that Biden "Be normal and stop the chaos," warning, "We can’t go too far left. This is not a center-left or a left country. We are a center, if anything, a little center-right country."

In 2025, as the Democratic Party still reels from former Vice President Kamala Harris’ defeat and tries to seek a path forward, Manchin offered his analysis of the past few years to the hosts of the "All-In" podcast.

"I'm going to be honest with you. Ron Klain, okay? Smart guy, good guy and everything, but he had gone so far to the left and he pushed Joe left," Manchin claimed. "When I first went over to the White House, I said, ‘Mr. President,’ I said ‘You have the most liberal staff that I've ever seen.’ First time I went over. And he said, ‘Well, Joe, they tell me I have the most diversified staff.’ I said, ‘We're not talking about diversity, sir. We're talking about bats--- crazy. We're talking about people I've known, I've worked with in the hallway forever, and I know where they came and where they worked before. These are people real far left."

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Manchin added, "Ron put that team together. And I know that because I kept saying that ‘your staff is pushing you too far left, Mr. President. You’ve never been this far left." 

The West Virginia politician concluded that while he believes Biden is a good man, Manchin says the President "lost the will to fight."

When reached for comment by Fox News Digital, Klain said, "Our agenda at the WH was the agenda the president campaigned on — no more no less. Every Democrat in the Senate voted for it other than Senator Manchin. Every one. The staff were all veterans of the Obama and Clinton WH. I respect Sen Manchin, but the staff was mainstream Democratic and the agenda was mainstream Democratic." 

Klain added that agenda items such as paid family leave and a child tax credit are "overwhelmingly supported by the American people." 

Meanwhile, the former Senator said, "I know how much energy it takes if you've got to fight with your staff every day to do the things you want rather than the staff saying, ‘We'll take care of that, Mr. President.’ Because I would ask him, we’d agree on something, and I'd ask him a week or two later, and nothing had happened, so, I’d know there was no follow-up. You follow? So, I knew Ron was kind of driving the train."

Later in the same podcast, he gave a summation of his feelings about the Biden presidency, from its hopeful start to its less-than-satisfactory outcome.

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"I think, ‘Boy, we got it now," Manchin said of his initial hopeful attitude regarding Biden’s presidency. "Boy, was that a letdown. Went far to the left, and I don't think that was in his heart. But he came out of Iowa bad. Came out of New Hampshire even worse. Went to South Carolina, got resurrected, and within three weeks, everybody drops out. Had to make a deal, I think, with the wrong side of that and try to calm it down, and just for the sake of being president, I think he had to sign up and his people took him to the promised land of the far left — which has no return."

When asked about how he would have loved to have been in a Democratic primary after Biden relinquished the nomination, he spoke about issues he focuses on, warning that a lack of moderation on immigration would doom the party.

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"Do you need a strong border? Well, let me ask you something. You all have property lines. When you buy a piece of property and a house, you either build a fence or you lived in a gated area, you want to protect your property. Why can't we protect our borders, but also have a legal immigration policy that works?" he asked. "I could have brought all of that stuff out, and I think a lot of Democrats believe like I do, but they've gone so far to the left they can't retreat. And if they don't get out of their way, they're going to go down in defeat."

Fox News Digital reached out to former President Biden's office but did not receive an immediate reply.