Despite what folks might have heard and the impression the man himself gives off in his cagey media moments, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) isn’t really all that hard to figure out. Or more to the point, despite what everyone around him does, Joe Manchin is totally sure of who he is.

“I don’t give a s***, you understand? I just don’t give a s***,” he explained during his most recent campaign, in 2018. “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*** that I don’t like and can’t explain, they’re all crazy. … Elections do not bother me or scare me. I’m going to continue to do the same thing I’ve always done, extremely independent.”