The party’s woke ideology ‘creates unnecessary divisions’ and ‘alienates everyday citizens,’ the former senator writes
Former Democratic senator Joe Manchin (W.Va.) tears into the Democratic Party in an upcoming book, blasting “woke ideology,” diversity, equity, and inclusion mandates, and party leaders’ quest for power at the expense of democracy.
“I don’t say this lightly, but under the leadership of President Obama and Majority Leader Harry Reid, and later President Biden and Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Democrats have systematically tried to weaken the very guardrails that have protected our democracy for generations—all in the name of advancing their agenda,” Manchin writes in his new book, Punchbowl News reported after obtaining an advance copy. The book, Dead Center, will be out on Tuesday.
Manchin, who left the Democratic Party last year after more than four decades and registered as an independent, is also criticizing the party’s growing “woke” agenda, according to the report.
“When the party pushes hard on woke ideology, DEI mandates, and other social agendas,” Manchin writes in the book, “it creates unnecessary divisions, alienates everyday citizens, and moves us further away from the commonsense middle ground where most Americans actually live their lives.”
The criticism comes as the Democratic Party has already been in turmoil for months, beset by financial troubles, bitter infighting, and sinking approval ratings. According to Manchin, the party was “once a big tent that welcomed diverse perspectives” but “has increasingly shifted toward ideological purity tests.”
Manchin in the book singles out Schumer over his push to eliminate the filibuster in 2022. “Schumer wasn’t interested in debate or persuasion,” Manchin writes. “He wanted a spectacle. He wanted a vote he could weaponize, a moment he could broadcast to the radical left to prove his loyalty. This wasn’t about governing or principle. It was about power.”
The former senator even suggests that he should have switched political parties when President Donald Trump was first elected in 2016. “What I failed to recognize at the time is that there were enough reasons to change my political affiliation to Republican right then and there,” Manchin writes.
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