You’ve probably noticed: the Trump Party candidates for governor have been running on fear -- there has been very little discussion of jobs or taxes or the state’s future. Instead, the focus has been one issue:

I’m sorry I have to laugh at West Virginia’s political commercials. The “radical transgender agenda.” lol. Has anyone seen the “radical transgender agenda” served up by anyone?
Just made up garbage. Give me serious candidates please. My state needs them badly. 🙏🏻

— Mitch Vingle (@MitchVingle) May 13, 2024

Here's Snark Tank with a similar take:

Today's primary election concludes the current round of Mad Libs for Midwits, a game in which every blank is filled with one of a very limited set of words, including woke, left, tax, transgender, liberal, radical, and excluding anything useful or insightful

— Sn@rk Tank, Arbitrary American (@trueglib) May 14, 2024

Additionally, the candidates are clearly working in a different political reality. From the Associated Press:

Election deniers: West Virginia voters must pick from GOP candidates who still dispute 2020 outcome (from ⁦@LeahMWillingham⁩ and me) https://t.co/IkgKU1SRcR

— John Raby (@jrabyap) May 12, 2024

Here is the lede:

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — When West Virginia Republicans vote in Tuesday’s primary, they will have a hard time finding a major candidate on the ballot in any statewide race who openly acknowledges that President Joe Biden won the 2020 election.

Yes, our Trump Party candidates live in an alternate reality. But for Trump Party voters, their gubernatorial choice was made even more difficult by the lack of a Trump endorsement. For what’s it worth, sycophant Morrisey frequently brags that he was the first to endorse Trump. Additionally (according to Newsmax), Morrisey has been pursuing whether NY state prosecutors colluded with the Biden administration:

Docs that could indicate whether the Biden admin colluded with NY prosecutors in Trump criminal case have been requested by West Virginia AG Patrick Morrisey. https://t.co/c1dEL7WImq pic.twitter.com/9P1QYKVgzp

— NEWSMAX (@NEWSMAX) May 14, 2024

(Can anyone explain this? How is this legal or in any way part of the job description for WV’s attorney general?)

Okay, even when the state voted Democratic, it was basically conservative. But this is much different. How did we get this far out on the far right/batshit crazy end of the political spectrum? Is it the carbon in the air we breathe? The chemicals in the polluted water we drink? Yes, other states have pockets of crazy that give us representatives like Lauren Bobert and Marjorie Taylor Greene but Colorado and Georgia also have sane parts of their state. What happened to West Virginia?