[BobL]

“He’s a Democrat.”

He is, and very loyal to them on judges. But since he is a Democrat it takes a lot more courage to go against the rest of the Democrats in the way he did. They smelled One-Party Rule, and he, so far, has stopped it.

[Zhang Fei]

[But since he is a Democrat it takes a lot more courage to go against the rest of the Democrats in the way he did.]

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He’s not standing up to Biden and Schumer. He’s doing the minimum necessary to save his seat without flipping to the GOP. Trump won by 40 points in WV. That’s not a Trump phenomenon. It’s a GOP phenom. WV is becoming extremely Republican in its voting patterns. Morrissey* was the first GOP AG in ~80 years, and the man is from NJ, where he ran for a House seat.

If Manchin doesn’t flip to the GOP, he is done. If he does this deal, even if he flips later, he’s done anyway. If Manchin becomes a born-again Republican, I could see Morrissey running against him in the primary just to settle some unfinished business from 2018.

* In 2012, Morrissey won AG by 2.5%. In 2016, he won by 10%. In 2020, he won by 28%. You can almost read the writing on the wall for 2024.