I don’t disagree at all that Democrats have utterly failed to prioritize working class economic issues over the past few decades and have capitulated to the liberal elite ruling class that prefers to focus on issues that don’t undermine their stranglehold on the economy. I just know that in order to win WV in an environment where that ruling class still calls a stupid amount of shots, a Democrat has to chart their own course and be seen as fiercely independent of that ruling class. That goes double if they hope to win repeatedly.

Additionally, you misread me. I’m not saying him appearing at the IRA event is a virtuous gesture. It’s precisely because of the demands of his constituents that he can neither support nor campaign on that law. I’m saying that he’s opting out because it would look TERRIBLE for him to support a law that essentially puts a bulls-eye on whatever economic future WV has left.