Former U.S. Senator Joe Manchin, West Virginia’s only Democrat in Congress until he registered as an independent in 2024, is promoting his new book, Dead Center: In Defense of Common Sense.
This week on The Bill Maher Show, Manchin criticized the Democratic Party for “losing people like me” and suggested that they “move to the center” to win the 2026 mid-term and 2028 presidential elections.
Former U.S. Secretary of Labor Robert Reich, a Democrat who served during the Clinton administration, slammed Manchin on social media. Reich wrote: “I’ve watched corporate Democrats like him peddle this baloney for 50 years. Instead of caving to Big Money, Democrats should fight back against Trump and the oligarchs rigging the system.”
[Note: Manchin, who led opposition to President Joe Biden‘s climate bill in 2021, reportedly received the most funding from the oil and gas industry of any senator from May 2020 to May 2021, including $1.6 million in donations from fossil fuel PACs.]
As seen in the video below, Reich contended that moving to the middle where Manchin claims to be isn’t the recipe for success: “Democrats need to grow a spine. Milquetoast Democrats lose to Republicans.”
Joe Manchin says Democrats need to "move to the center" to win.
— Robert Reich (@RBReich) September 22, 2025
I've watched corporate Democrats like him peddle this baloney for 50 years.
Instead of caving to Big Money, Democrats should fight back against Trump and the oligarchs rigging the system. pic.twitter.com/ygmV5MvrEX
Reich provided several examples including: “When Humbert Humphrey lost to Nixon, Democrats said it was time to move to the center. When Jimmy Carter lost to Reagan? ‘Move to the center.’ When Walter Mondale lost to Reagan? ‘Just a little bit further.’ When Michael Dukakis lost to George H.W. Bush, ‘center.'”
Reich added, “By moving to the so-called center, Democrats have failed to fight the forces that led us to Donald Trump: widening inequality, economic insecurity, and the unchecked political power of corporations and the rich. Now is not the time for Democrats to retreat to the center. It’s no time for compromise or ‘Republican lite’ policies. Democrats must hold Donald Trump accountable, not capitulate to him.”
With images of billionaires Peter Thiel, Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos (all of whom have donated to Trump or his inauguration fund), Reich said: “Democrats should call out the oligarchs who are taking over our system by buying up media platforms and turning them into right-wing cesspools and making gigantic campaign donations in exchange for tax cuts and rollbacks of health and safety and environmental protections. And they should stop drinking from the corporate money trough themselves. It’s time to get Big Money out of American politics.”
On CSPAN’s Washington Journal this week (see below), Manchin — who considered running for president in 2024 with the No Labels party — was asked if he thinks more people should become independents, “and if such a large group exists, does he think that a third party should be created?”
"We have got to create a middle in Washington where people have a place when they come…"
— Washington Journal (@cspanwj) September 21, 2025
Former West Virginia Senator @Sen_JoeManchin (I-WV),
on the possible formation of a third party to combat political polarization in the two-party system. pic.twitter.com/6TnZQq7CeY
Manchin replied, “I always thought we could work out our differences with the two-party system we have, but it’s failed because it’s become a duopoly. We have a major corporation called the Democratic Party and a major corporation called the Republican Party…I don’t know if we can change that because the money is so strong.”
The former Democrat noted that 50 percent of Americans are not registered with either party, and said “we have got to create a middle in Washington, or have a place where they can come.”
The New York Times review of Manchin’s book, ‘Dead Center,’ says “most of his ire is directed at his fellow Democrats,” and “as often as Manchin repeats that he wants ‘compromise,’ the tone of this memoir is indignant. Whenever he recounts his Democratic colleagues’ apparent unwillingness to compromise with him on his terms, he seems especially offended.”
