Analyzing Elections: West Virginia Edition

Former Republican Senatorial Candidate Don Blankenship

I am probably not the first person that has recommended that you watch the music video for Childish Gambino�s song �This is America,� but I could not help giving it a mention on this week�s blog because it is a work of art. I am not original in making that observation but it does not make it any less true. It is a terrifying and sobering societal commentary packed with symbolism and makes a lasting impression through its shock factor. There is a plethora of music and art about the divide in our country these days and while a lot of that music is good and memorable, the way in which Gambino went about the topic was unique. It was intense and sinister unlike other songs in the subgenre that try to bring us together and that is why I have watched it multiple times and devoted an entire paragraph to it. I guess my point is that you should watch the video for it which can be found here. 

Childish Gambino in "This is America"

            This week�s main story is about the round of primary elections that took place on Tuesday night in Texas, Ohio, West Virginia, and North Carolina. These states were all won by President Trump in 2016 so many analysts were looking to these elections as early indicators of what November might hold. Anticlimactically, nothing crazy happened. The candidates who were supposed to win actually won and there were no upsets. After witnessing the 2016 presidential election and special elections in places like Alabama where there were major upsets and conventional politics were thrown out of the window, I expected something crazy to happen. And while it is more exciting to write about elections when crazy things happen, it is not always good for our country. We needed some normalcy and we received some on Tuesday night.

            One of the biggest losers from Tuesday�s primaries was Don Blankenship who was running for the Senate in West Virginia. If you don�t know who Blankenship is, allow me to introduce you to him. He is the former CEO of the Massey Energy Company which is coal-based and was convicted and sent to jail following a mining disaster in 2010 which left 29 coal miners dead. He was convicted in 2014 because his company did not follow proper safety regulations which led to the disaster. He is a donor to the Republican Party and unsuccessfully ran for the party�s nomination to the Senate this year. You can get an idea of the type of person Blankenship is with the information I have presented thus far. He is a wealthy businessman who is not too concerned with ethics or public appearance and that makes him the perfect candidate in the Trump era.

            During the campaign he was as ostracized as Roy Moore from Alabama was last year and for good reason. He put out slightly racist commercials calling Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chou�s father a �wealthy China person� in one of them. In the same ad he labeled Senator Mitch McConnell from Kentucky as, �Cocaine Mitch.� It appears that Blankenship took a page out of President Trump�s book with that insult except that the label he gave McConnell made no sense. When Trump gives someone a label there is an obvious reason behind it. He calls Marco Rubio �Little Marco� because he is short. It is super childish and rude, but at least it makes sense. �Cocaine Mitch� makes no sense at all and it comes off as creepy. 

Mitch McConnell's response to Blankenship's loss.

            Anyways, Blankenship was completely rejected by West Virginian Republicans on Tuesday and that gives me hope. Blankenship is a symptom of our increasingly radical society. Everything about our country has become more extreme in recent years. We elected Donald Trump to the Presidency two years ago, an extremely unconventional candidate that generates controversy wherever he goes. And I am saying that as an observation, not a criticism.

            Trump�s successes gave rise to other extreme candidates who saw how controversy helped Trump win the election. People like Roy Moore and Don Blankenship and more locally, Katie Arrington and Catherine Templeton have observed Trump�s success and are stirring up controversy just so they can be seen as controversial. They have realized that mundane and moderate candidates do not make the headlines and attract attention, radicals do. And since any press is good press, they have increasingly done controversial things just to make headlines in the hope that some late-night comedian or mainstream analyst will criticize and mock them for it, just so they can ignite the faction of Americans that distrusts the mainstream media. They want to be slammed so they can wear it as a badge on their sleeve and score points with voters. None of it is genuine or necessary.

            Our society, as a whole, is growing more and more extreme. Beyond our political candidates, there is the media where figures like Alex Jones are becoming normalized because of how often they make the headlines for the crazy things they say and do. And I am guilty of giving them attention because I have discussed Alex Jones and Roy Moore on this blog because of the crazy things they have done. If you look to the music industry, rappers like Lil Pump have 6ix9ine have made their way, somehow, to the mainstream because of how controversial they are. They possess no musical talent but because of the drama and dumpster fires they create, their music becomes more popular. If you look to YouTube, Logan Paul still has millions of fans despite his many offensive and controversial actions through the years. Paul even bragged that he gained a million followers after he took a break from YouTube because he posted a video that contained a corpse. It is all for the views, streams, and votes and not for the good of our society. �This is America� by Childish Gambino expresses that same sentiment about our country. That�s all for this week.