Sen. Joe Manchin doesn’t want Hillary Clinton to come around anymore. It isn’t that he doesn’t like her or that he doesn’t agree with most of her ideas, it’s just that the West Virginia Democrat doesn’t think it would be a good idea to see the failed presidential candidate again.
Manchin must’ve died a little inside when asked if Clinton should come to campaign for his re-election. “It wouldn’t be wise for Hillary to come to West Virginia,” he said on MSNBC on Sunday. “It wouldn’t be a good thing for her or for me.”
By turning the cold shoulder and ignoring the past though, Manchin might be harming his future with West Virginia voters and with the Democrat establishment. Little more than a year ago, he was welcoming Clinton to the Mountain State with open arms—even after she promised to put “a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business.”
Everyone remembers, and no one will forget how he dumped Clinton.
Still with her in the spring of 2016, Manchin stumped for the candidate because the two were friends. “She’s willing to take the flack,” he said during a May 2016 roundtable, explaining Clinton’s anti-coal gaffe. “I’m willing to take the flack because I believe in her. I know that’s not in her heart, I know I’ve got two people I can count on, Hillary and Bill.”
It was a really strong friendship, Manchin explained. “I’ve got a friend, and a person I think is going to be, and should be the next president,” he said. “I’ve got all my faith in that person helping me.” But it couldn’t survive the presidential election.
After President Trump beat Hillary Clinton by 41 percentage points in West Virginia, Manchin apparently stopped calling. Facing a tough re-election bid, the moderate Democrat has decided to keep Clinton at arm’s length. That’s understandable, but it’s also really, really cold.
Philip Wegmann is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.
