Ed Kilgore: “His current trajectory for 2024 is a crushing defeat for reelection — probably a humiliating loss to his old rival Jim Justice — in West Virginia, where he has become very unpopular and will be bucking a very likely Republican presidential landslide. Flirting with a presidential run is a more ego-flattering course of action. And if he achieves a credible threat of running and damaging Joe Biden, who knows, his fellow Democrats could reward him with an appointment to something after 2024 if he instead demurs.”
“And if all else fails, a proto-presidential candidacy wouldn’t be a bad advertisement for Joe Manchin’s availability for a cushy lobbying job or some other nice retirement sinecure. It all beats the hell out of getting defeated in a Senate race.”
