WV-SEN 2018: Haunted Manchin

[💥💥 brandon bro (he/him/his)]

Just lol

https://www.twitter.com/samstein/status/994291155016790016

lmao @ Blankenship making a public statement about an industry causing deaths

[Doimper]

Just lol

https://www.twitter.com/samstein/status/994291155016790016

Swamp captain Concaineperson has done it again.

[Torrain]

Politico editorial on the race. It was hacking of them to put King Lear on their payroll.
https://politi.co/2I1Uf3E

[junior chįmp]

Based Blankenship....the madman!

https://www.twitter.com/politicoalex/status/994580611594629122

[KingSweden]

Based Blankenship....the madman!

https://www.twitter.com/politicoalex/status/994580611594629122

Please proceed

[Greedo punched first]

Blankenship will run as a write-in.

[ON Progressive]

Based Blankenship....the madman!

https://www.twitter.com/politicoalex/status/994580611594629122

Please proceed

[Young Conservative]

Based Blankenship....the madman!

https://www.twitter.com/politicoalex/status/994580611594629122

Please proceed

Only 1/5 primary voters supported him. A very small percent would support him or vote against the gop.

[tmthforu94]

Based Blankenship....the madman!

https://www.twitter.com/politicoalex/status/994580611594629122

Glad to see that Blankenship is still fighting for West Virginia and against SCMM and Puppet Patrick. Morrisey will lose by double-digits.

[KingSweden]

Based Blankenship....the madman!

https://www.twitter.com/politicoalex/status/994580611594629122

Glad to see that Blankenship is still fighting for West Virginia and against SCMM and Puppet Patrick. Morrisey will lose by double-digits.

SCMM... Senator Cocaine Mitch McConnell?

[Doimper]

Based Blankenship....the madman!

https://www.twitter.com/politicoalex/status/994580611594629122

RIP Cocaine Mitch

[tmthforu94]

Based Blankenship....the madman!

https://www.twitter.com/politicoalex/status/994580611594629122

Glad to see that Blankenship is still fighting for West Virginia and against SCMM and Puppet Patrick. Morrisey will lose by double-digits.

SCMM... Senator Cocaine Mitch McConnell?

Swamp Captain Mitch McConnell

[KingSweden]

Based Blankenship....the madman!

https://www.twitter.com/politicoalex/status/994580611594629122

Glad to see that Blankenship is still fighting for West Virginia and against SCMM and Puppet Patrick. Morrisey will lose by double-digits.

SCMM... Senator Cocaine Mitch McConnell?

Swamp Captain Mitch McConnell

Ah got it

[SATW]

Based Blankenship....the madman!

https://www.twitter.com/politicoalex/status/994580611594629122

Glad to see that Blankenship is still fighting for West Virginia and against SCMM and Puppet Patrick. Morrisey will lose by double-digits.

[Bleach Blonde Bad Built Butch Bodies for Biden]

Based Blankenship....the madman!

https://www.twitter.com/politicoalex/status/994580611594629122

[Doimper]

In hindsight, maybe publicly taunting a volatile coal billionaire wasn't the best play by Swamp Captain Mitch. All that cocaine must be affecting his judgement.

[DINGO Joe]

FWIW, I talked to my uncle today about this race. He's from WV originally, is a strong Trumpist, and instilled in our family a deep hatred of Blankenship and his practices. He's rooting for Blankenship now.

Why? He's become so disillusioned with the hypocrisy of the FBI/DoJ in regards to how they handled Trump/Clinton that he's become convinced that Blankenship's prosecution may have been political the whole time. And while I don't entirely agree, I can't help but think that a) that kind of thinking is more than justified even if I disagree in this individual case, b) I think many West Virginians agree.

These people aren't dumb hicks. The relative in question here spends his days driving a truck, and he listens to NPR, C-SPAN, and the SiriusXM channels literally all day. He has an encyclopedic knowledge of Russiagate's timeline that I envy, as I've long lost track of what all has transpired. He and his octogenarian mother who still lives up there talk about this stuff. This story isn't being ignored by Trump Country; quite the contrary, they're following it far more intensely than the opposition, and their rage is growing stronger.

It's part of the reason why I think that Trump will be reelected and that the midterms will largely be a draw. I'm actually beginning to think that Blankenship can actually win, in the sense that if he can win over my Uncle of all people, than he probably can win over enough swing voters to win in general.

Another thing to take into account is that Joe Manchin is unpopular, especially since he shamelessly used a thousand year flood for a bunch of photo-ops and a trip to the Greenbriar. His approvals are starting to drop off dramatically, and I think his attempt to portray himself as the real populist in the race is threatened by Blankenship in a way that Jenkins or Morrissey would envy.

Of course Blankenship is a criminal coal executive billionaire and a complete fraud, but whatever. If there is anything I've learned about politics from observing and participating, its the economy message stupid! Trump is living proof that a proper message can overcome even the most odious character flaws.

I don't think Blankenship is another Roy Moore though. Roy Moore's scandals came out after he won the primary. I think Blakenship, like Trump, has already aired out his dirty laundry.

TL;DR: A bunch of anecdotal regurgitations of what my relatives up there are thinking and what the informal consensus in (at least their immediate) bubble is like.

BTW, I hope Sanchez's uncle becomes a regular feature of prediction threads.

[UWS]

Right now, Don Blankenship is acting like an agent of the Democratic Party working to make sure that Joe Manchin wins re-election. He is not endorsing Morrisey and pledged to work against him. The moreover that he has threaten to run in 2020 against Trump. So in some ways, if you allow me the expression, Blankenship is now working for Chuck Schumer. I mean the person who benefits the most from Blankenship’s actions is Chuck Schumer.

[mvd10]

Yes, please let Blankenship and his deplorables help the Democrats. They belong there .

[Progressive Pessimist]

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend" might actually be true for once though there is a chance that Blankenship finds some way to humiliate Manchin by association. The guy might just be an agent of chaos.

[Blackacre]

Yes, please let Blankenship and his deplorables help the Democrats. They belong there .

I'm terrified to ask, but what do you mean by this?

[NOVA Green]

Well Blankenship essentially self-funded the creation of the Republican Party in West Virginia, prior to getting sent to the slammer and serving time for actions that resulted in the deaths of almost 30 Coal Miners....

He obviously feels extremely betrayed by the Republican Establishment, as well as by Donald J. Trump...

Although personally I think the dude is scum, he actually still has a significant chunk of support among Registered Republicans and Independents in West Virginia....

I very much doubt the dude is going to go away anytime soon, especially considering his major personal motivations now appear to be a mixture of both redemption and revenge against those he perceives have wronged him and betrayed him when he was going through the Criminal Justice Process, and after he came out of the 'Pen....

Interesting wild card going on here....

[Terry the Fat Shark]

This isn't exactly anything new and it's not something new post primary:

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/don-blankenship-wont-rule-out-third-party-bid-west-virginia-senate-race-2018-05-06/

Before the primary, Blankenship said he did not trust Morrisey due to his connections to the Opioid Crisis, had Jenkins won Blankenship would not have tried to stop him.

[Politician]

Politico editorial on the race. It was hacking of them to put King Lear on their payroll.
https://politi.co/2I1Uf3E

Stopped reading as soon as it said "muh map".

[mvd10]

Yes, please let Blankenship and his deplorables help the Democrats. They belong there .

I'm terrified to ask, but what do you mean by this?

Oh, I was just kidding. Nowadays Democrats love to paint the GOP as the party of dumb hicks ('deplorables') who back rapists like Roy Moore or literal murderers like Blankenship because of populism, so I guess it would be nice irony to see Blankenship (and his voters, who probably would have been Dems a decade ago) help the Democrats. I assume most of Blankenship's voters are fine people who feel neglected and ignored (either economically or in other ways) and voted for Blankenship because of that. And I guess some of them actually are vile racists who belong in neither party.