‘I Love My Country Too Much to Vote For Donald Trump’: Joe Manchin Vows to Never Support Trump For 2024 As He Floats Presidential Run

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) vowed to never vote for former President Donald Trump as he floated the idea of launching his own 2024 White House bid later this year.

The West Virginian lawmaker sat down for an interview on Face the Nation with CBS anchor Margaret Brennan where he discussed his criticisms of President Joe Biden and shared his thoughts on the 2024 race.

The Democratic moderate noted that he’s trying to push Biden towards “the middle” before adding that he would never vote for Biden’s likely Republican opponent, Trump, because he loves his country “too much.”

BRENNAN: You’ve said he’s been pulled so far to the left, to the extreme left. As far as liberal makes no sense at all. It’s not the person we thought was going to bring the country together. That’s pretty harshly critical. Are you going to vote for him?

MANCHIN: Well, I mean, it’s constructive criticism. Let me let me make very clear. I love my country too much to vote for Donald Trump. I love my country too much and I think it would be very detrimental to my country. I want to make sure that people have a choice, but also understanding the person with the character and this and that. We have to see what happens on Super Tuesday. I think by then you’re going to know who’s in the game where we stand.

However, Manchin would not rule out his ambitions to run for president when asked by the CBS anchor. For the last few months, the outgoing lawmaker has teased he may launch a third-party ticket as he’s appeared with the bipartisan group No Labels.

“I’m going to do everything I can to save my country, and I’ll do whatever it takes,” Manchin said when asked if he would run.

He concluded, “I’ll help whoever and I’ll support whoever that I think can best help this country come back to this common sense, sensible middle, which is center left, center right, working together with a majority. You can’t govern from the extremes.

Watch the full clip above via CBS News.