I don't know if you know this, but my family's from West Virginia.

No, I don't.

You sound like my grandfather.

When I play Country Road, you sing the whole thing?

I do. I know the entire song.

Me too.

It's on.

It's on. Hi, everyone from New York Magazine and the Vox Media Podcast Network.

This is on with Kara Swisher, and I'm Kara Swisher.

My guest today is former West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin.

Mansion was elected in 2010 as a Democrat, and in 2024, after announcing he would not be running again, he changed his affiliation to independent.

It wasn't a huge surprise. Mansion has been called a Dino, Democrat in name only.

He had a long history of not voting the party line, and in fact, his resistance caused Democrats some big legislative wins, including President Biden's $1.75 trillion-dollar billed-back better act that made him a target of

Democratic vitriol and a friend of many Republicans, including President Trump. In his new memoir,

Dead Center in Defense of Common Sense, Manchin lays out his reasoning for siding on occasion with

the other side of the aisle. Interestingly, if you look at the cover, he's way to the

right, so there's that. I thought it was a really interesting memoir. He's a very complex person,

and actually he is making sense in that we need to find a way to find common ground, although at

the same time, I think he probably enjoyed being in the center so that he could use that center position for power.

It's really complicated, so I want to talk to him about his book, about his defense of the filibuster,

and why he still thinks there's an opportunity for bipartisanship in Washington.

It's an important question in these increasingly divisive times.

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