'Trump unleashed a noxious monster': GOP consultant explains why his party keeps nominating bigots and crooks

The number of Republican Party candidates who either have openly bigoted views -- such as failed Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore -- or criminal records -- such as 2018 GOP hopefuls Don Blankenship of West Virginia or Michael Grimm of New York -- seems to have grown since President Donald Trump's election.

Tim Miller, a Republican consultant who previously worked for Jeb Bush’s failed 2016 presidential campaign, wrote on Twitter Monday that Trump's successful campaign seems to have convinced GOP primary voters that they should back the most overtly racist or otherwise depraved candidate, regardless of what party leaders tell them to do.

What got Miller going on Monday was the idea floated by some political reporters that Blankenship, the former mining tycoon who was sent to jail in 2016 for his culpability in the deaths of 29 miners who worked for him, would see his West Virginia Senate bid derailed by Trump's decision to urge his supporters to not back his candidacy.

"People 'in politics' think Trump half-heartedly endorsing Strange/dinging Blankenship matter because they have deluded themselves about Trump and the base," Miller writes. "Trump unleashed a noxious, hateful monster. And the voters who liked it can sniff who his real heir is endorsement or not."

Miller's argument is similar to the one made by former GOP operative Liam Donovan, who believes that Trump voters know he doesn't really object to Blankenship's candidacy and is only speaking out against it because of what he's been told by party leaders.

Miller concludes by saying that Blankenship might lose his bid on Tuesday, but he said that it won't be because of one Trump tweet that gave a listless, non-specific endorsement of Blankenship's two primary rivals.