ELECTION/SENATE/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “President Donald Trump connected by phone on Wednesday [5-9-18] with Don Blankenship, the former coal baron and ex-con whose Senate candidacy he helped sink. Trump and Blankenship spoke briefly, according to three people familiar with the discussion. The conversation was described as straightforward, polite and cordial, with the president calling to exchange pleasantries and offer his congratulations on waging the campaign. The call came two days after Trump took to Twitter to urge West Virginia Republicans to reject Blankenship’s candidacy. In the tweet, Trump argued that Blankenship, who spent a year in jail following a 2010 explosion at his Upper Big Branch Mine that killed 29 workers, would be unable to defeat Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin in November. Trump’s intervention undermined Blankenship, who had aligned himself closely with the president — so much so that he described himself as ‘Trumpier than Trump.’ Blankenship would go on to lose the primary decisively, finishing a distant third behind state Attorney General Patrick Morrisey and Rep. Evan Jenkins. In his remarks to supporters on Tuesday [5-8-18] evening, Blankenship attributed his loss to the president’s last-minute intervention in the contest, saying that it had halted his momentum.”
-Alex Isenstadt, “Trump calls Blankenship after pushing for his loss in West Virginia,” Politico, May 9, 2018 11:11 pm