I mean, Hillary only lost Manchin’s home state by 42 percentage points, so it’s unclear why he’d be having second thoughts about calling her uniquely qualified while warmly endorsing her for president. Oh, actually, it’s quite clear: Facing a tough re-election, the incumbent Democrat reading the same polls as everyone else. They show that (a) President Trump is popular among West Virginia voters, (b) Manchin’s support for Hillary Clinton in 2016 is a major liability among his electorate, and (c) the national Democratic Party is anathema to most West Virginians — a lesson the state’s governor recently took to heart. A few weeks ago on my radio show, I pressed the Senator on his backing of Mrs. Clinton in the last national election, asking whether he regretted doing so, and if he’s glad that Trump is now president, as opposed to his preferred candidate. His responses were surprisingly rambling and unprepared.

As I observed at the time, I was stunned that a talented and popular politician in his position wouldn’t have a prepared, locked-down answer for questions like these, given the clear ideological currents in his state. He ultimately landed on “I don’t know,” praising Trump as much as he could without quite conceding the thrust of my question.