Joe Manchin, upon retiring from Senate, blames 'progressives' for making Democratic Party 'toxic'

While Democrats and their allies in the media continue debating and analyzing what went wrong for them in last month’s presidential election, outgoing Sen. Joe Manchin, I-W.V., weighed in on his former party’s current state, calling it “toxic.”

Manchin, who left the Democratic Party earlier this year and registered as an Independent, criticized the Democrats in an interview on CNN’s "Inside Politics with Manu Raju" that aired on Sunday.

"The D-brand has been so maligned from the standpoint of, it’s just, it’s toxic," Manchin said, adding that "in the form of what the Democratic Party has turned itself into" he no longer considers himself to be part of it. 

Manchin put the blame on so-called “progressive” lawmakers, who he considers to be out of touch with America for moving the party away from issues like jobs and better pay to more on social issues like transgender rights and telling Americans what they can or cannot do, according to Fox News. 

"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 from that far off,’" Manchin said in reference to the Democratic Party.

He said, "This country is not going left," and that the party "has changed tremendously." 

CNN's Raju quoted the incoming chair of the House Progressive Caucus as saying, "If the Democratic Party was a little more like chairwoman [Pramila] Jayapal and a little less like Joe Manchin, I think we would have won this election." 

"They've gotta be nuts," replied Manchin. "For someone to say that, they've got to be completely insane."

He also saved some criticism for Republicans, particularly on the issue of gun rights. Manchin served 14 years in the Senate after a period as governor of West Virginia.