Last week I examined Arizona Senator Jeff
Flake’s op-ed for Politico Magazine, in which he in effect,
took on what has become the GOP Party orthodoxy under #45. Flake’s unexpected
revelation of conscience, not coincidentally, coincided with the release of his
new book, “Conscience of a Conservative.” The timing of Senator Flake’s rebellion was
somewhat ironic in that it followed a week in which his fellow Arizona Senator,
John McCain, also rebuffed the President and his Party’s hard driving initiative
to pass the so-called skinny repeal of Obamacare by the Senate.
In
the normal course of human events, it is all but certain that what goes around,
comes around. Often this happens sooner rather than later, certainly quicker
than we might expect. This…is one of those times. On last Thursday, at a Trump
Rally in Huntington, West Virginia, Governor Jim Justice announced his plans to
switch his affiliation to the Republican Party. Three days later, Democratic
West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin told the
Charleston Gazette-Mail on Sunday that he would not be toeing
the party line on every issue. Just like that, the Grand Canyon State and the
Mountain State completed a game of political musical chairs in a matter of ten
days.
At
last Thursday’s rally, Governor Justice had this to say:
“Today I will tell you as West Virginians, I can't
help you anymore being a Democrat governor, So tomorrow, I will be changing my
registration to Republican."
This isn't Justice’s first rodeo when it comes to switching
parties. He was previously an independent and a Republican up until 2015 when
he ran for governor as a Democrat. It is likely this move signals a bigger
shift in the state’s political landscape. In Governor Justice's latest State of the State address, he mentioned Trump
five times, and noted his good friendship with the Trump family.
Like Trump, Justice is a billionaire who ran for
election as a newcomer to politics, and was elected in November 2016. During
his campaign, he took pains to show he was no fan of Clinton. “I cannot be a
supporter of Hillary Clinton,” Justice told a West Virginia radio station last August.
After Justice moves across the aisle as
reported, the GOP Governorship advantage over Democrats will increase to 34 to
15. Governor Bill Walker of Alaska is a registered Independent.
Although Senator Manchin did not switch
parties, he made a much more, shall we say, colorful statement. In his Sunday
comments to the Charleston Gazette-Mail, he said:
“I don’t give a s–t, you understand? I just
don’t give a s–t. Don’t care if I get elected, don’t care if I get defeated,
how about that? If they think because I’m up for election, that I can be
wrangled into voting for s–t that I don’t like and can’t explain, they’re all
crazy. I’m not scared of an election, let’s put it that way. Elections do not bother
me or scare me.
The
bottom line is, if it doesn’t help West Virginia, it doesn’t make sense to me,
and just because there’s an election doesn’t mean I sign on or don’t sign on.”
Interestingly, while Justice’s action preceded
Manchin’s, the Senator not only didn’t switch parties, he took the occasion of
making a statement on the Governor’s move to indicate that he intends to
continue to remain in the Democratic Party. At that time he said in a prepared
statement:
"I have been and
always will be a proud West Virginia Democrat. I am disappointed by Gov.
Justice's decision to switch parties. While I do not agree with his decision, I
have always said that I will work with anyone, no matter their political
affiliation, to do what is best for the people of West Virginia."
Senator Manchin is up for re-election in 2018. With Justice's
move, Manchin will become West Virginia's only statewide elected Democrat
besides treasurer John Perdue.
Let’s just say, if it’s not already clear, Donald Trump carried
West Virginia by almost infinity, in electoral math terms, 67.9 to 26.2, or
41.7 percentage points. Rewind back to the Arizona results, and the difference
is stark. Trump still won, but only by a margin of 48.1 to 44.6, or 3.5
percentage points. While that’s not exactly a cliffhanger, when compared to the
West Virginia results, it was obviously close enough to embolden McCain and
Flake to rebel, whereas, Justice and Manchin are figuratively praying at the
altar of Trump. In fairness, Senator McCain has developed a reputation as a
Party Maverick. Still, if Trump’s success in his state mirrored that of the
Mountain State, chances are McCain and Flake would be considerably more
reserved in their Party pushback.
The point of this post was primarily to point out how quickly the
McCain-Flake incidents boomeranged to give us the Justice-Manchin decision and comments.
However, another notion I would like to advance and leave with you, especially
if you read last week’s action as a sign of the beginning of the end for
TrumpWorld, by all means, slow your roll. I closed last week with a reminder of
my assessment that Trump-Pence will be around for a while, and at least for the
foreseeable future.
I understand why it’s tempting to doubt that. There are a number
of investigations, engendering enough smoke to suggest there’s a
legitimate fire in our midst. And there may in fact be some fire out there.
We’ll see soon enough. In the interim, just keep these sobering data points in
mind:
·
The GOP holds a 34-15 advantage in
Governorships.
·
The GOP holds a 241-194 advantage in House
Members
·
The GOP holds a 52-48 advantage in the Senate
(Including Independents who caucus with Democrats)
·
The GOP controls both legislative chambers in
32 states
·
The GOP controls 67 of 98 partisan state
legislative chambers
·
Trump won 2,622 Counties – Clinton won 490
Counties
·
Since the election of Barack Obama in 2009,
Democrats have lost 919 seats in state legislatures
Those are numbers that should spark grave concern by anyone who
leans toward the ideals fostered and supported by Democrats, unless you subscribe to Trumpist philosophy and just deem it all to be fake news. I
assure you, it’s the "realest". Sad, very sad. And with that I give you…”Reversal of Fortunes: Governor Dumps Party,Senator Balks at Party Line!”
I’m done; holla back!
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Consult the links below for more
detailed information on a variety of aspects relating to this post:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/m/71d14817-623d-30cf-894d-748d63f64bf2/ss_senator-says-he-won’t-vote.html
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