Don Blankenship Is Not Going Quietly
Convicted felonconspirator*, Nevada Resident, and US Senate candidate for the State of West Virginia Don Blankenship’s bizarre campaign is back in the news. Following last weeks highly controversial ad, and his defense thereof, in which he…well, maybe better to just watch it, from MSNBC:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pPYVm-PZYk&w=560&h=315]
Fast forward to Monday morning, and President Trump dedicated one of his customary morning tweets to the subject:
To the great people of West Virginia we have, together, a really great chance to keep making a big difference. Problem is, Don Blankenship, currently running for Senate, can’t win the General Election in your State…No way! Remember Alabama. Vote Rep. Jenkins or A.G. Morrisey!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 7, 2018
Trump, who invited candidates Rep. Jenkins and AG Morrisey to sit on either side of him during a recent appearance in the Mountain State, won West Virginia by 42 points in the 2016 campaign. The snub to Blankenship didn’t go unnoticed. Many have drawn comparisons to other recent problematic candidates, namely Roy Moore in Alabama. Among those to bring up Presidents Trump’s endorsement of Moore is…Don Blankenship?
"He recommended that people vote for a guy accused of pedophilia," Blankenship says of Trump. He says his accusers are Obama and Hillary
— Gideon Resnick (@GideonResnick) May 7, 2018
His assertion that the government, and not the company he lead that was cited over 1300 times for violations, was responsible for the Upper Big Branch tragedy is not new.
He's been saying this. While he was in prison he posted a lengthy rant on his website saying this, calling himself an "American political prisoner." He mailed booklets out, too. https://t.co/sKD1IDj20o https://t.co/lMMaIGmQfG
— Paige Lavender (@paigelav) May 7, 2018
Gideon Resnick offers this from Blankenship in Daily Beast:
Blankenship shrugged off the tweet in a statement to reporters, saying Trump “is a very busy man and he doesn’t know me and he doesn’t know how flawed my two main opponents are in this primary.”
“The establishment is misinforming him because they do not want me to be in the U.S. Senate and promote the president’s agenda,” Blankenship continued. “Tomorrow, West Virginia will send the swamp a message—no one, I mean no one, will tell us how to vote.
As some have said, I am Trumpier than Trump and this morning proves it.”
WV primary is tomorrow, May 8th.
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*Previous version of this post incorrectly noted Blankenship’s conviction as a felony, where as it was a misdemeanor conspiracy charge with the maximum sentence. He was acquitted of the felony charges.
Blankenship was convicted of a misdemeanor. He was acquitted on the felony charges.
The residency question (the Constitution says “Inhabitant of that State for which he shall be chosen”) is interesting but probably immaterial. The biggest hurdle against that — his probation, that confines him to Nevada unless he gets permission from his probation officer or a federal judge — expires later this week. If he wins the nomination, I assume he’ll take care of the residency details.Report
I’ve update the post for the felony error. The link was correct but the posting was not, my mistake.
There has been a complaint filed with his probation board in Nevada by his opponents campaign but we will leave that to our legal friends to dissect.Report
Not-The-Onion:
“Why Do All These Crazy Evil Bastards Keep Running For Control Of Our Party, Ask The Voters Who Elected Donald Trump”Report
Checkmate Libs!Report
I can’t believe the Sheriff of Nottingham is taxing the poor to give to the rich says woman who vote for the Sheriff of Nottingham.Report
If the Republican Party really thinks that Don Blankenship would be disastrous as a politician, they would rally behind Manchin like French conservatives lined behind Macron.
My suspicion is that Republicans do not like Blankenship because they don’t think he can win. They don’t substantively disagree with him though. Their inability to do the right thing for the country is the reason behind growing fascism.Report
The Republicans think Blankenship is a disastrous politician *for the goal of defeating Manchin*. They will rally around him the way they did Moore (who they* also tried to defeat in the primary). The difference is perhaps with multiple simultaneous races they may just punt if Blankenship gets the nom.
*you know, ‘they’Report
It will be interesting to see how party registration effects things here. A plurarity of West Virginia voters are still Democrats, and (as I understand WV hybrid rules) thus inelligible to vote in the Republican primary. The majority of voters are nontheless Republicans Plus Unaffilitated, but I don’t think there is a good read yet on what ‘type’ of voters both these categories actually are. (I would guess that the great majority of unaffiliated are going to vote in the GOP primary vice the Dem one, both from ideological tendency and that the Dem primary is not very competitive)Report
Like Moore, the GOP is reaping what they sowed with Blankenship. They created the atmosphere where constant resentments against “elites”* leads to a convicted CEO with a 20 million dollar salary being labeled a man of the people. Mainly because he makes racist comments and offends the right people.
*My view is that elite is an aesthetic sneer, not an economic one. Elitists in America are anyone with slightly arty tastes. An NYC public school teacher who likes going to museums is elite. Blankenship is somehow not.Report