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It’s somewhat amusing to watch Republicans panic as Don Blankenship (R) threatens to win their party’s U.S. Senate nomination in West Virginia.
As President Trump attacks Blankenship as being “not viable” in the general election, the coal mining executive hits back saying he’s the victim of an establishment conspiracy led by “Swamp Captain” Mitch McConnell, the “China people” and the dishonest “fake news.”
If that sounds like something Trump himself would say, you’re not mistaken.
For years, Trump and his allies have told the Republican base not to believe the news media. That’s why reports of Blankenship’s criminal record, conspiracy theories and racism fall on deaf ears. A generation of Republican voters has been conditioned to not believe facts anymore.
First Read explains:
It’s not hard to draw a line between those who have created this dystopian, distrusting view of the press and the rise of Blankenship, Roy Moore and (likely) Joe Arpaio. What’s more, it wouldn’t be hard for Trump to bolster his anti-Blankenship argument with news articles about the former coal baron’s ethics problems, but he hasn’t done that — he’s only asserted that Blankenship can’t win. Why not? Perhaps Trump doesn’t want to risk legitimizing a press that he’s long called “fake” to protect his own interests? Undermining the press works well if you’re under scrutiny, but for Trump, it may be backfiring now that Blankenship is beating him at his own game.
It will be interesting to see if Blankenship wins the primary tonight. If he does, Republicans should blame their cynical strategy towards the truth. If he doesn’t, don’t worry — there will be another Don Blankenship in a Republican primary soon enough.
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