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Huntington, West Virginia (population 48,000) might not be the first place most people would choose to go to distract themselves or others, but it was the perfect location for Trump to unveil something with "bead[s] and feather[s]": Mountain State Gov. Jim Justice, who most Americans (and undoubtedly probably a not-insignificant portion of West Virginians) wouldn't have recognized on the street on Wednesday.

The governor, elected as a Democrat in 2016 though registered as a Republican until 2015 (Zell Miller he is not), made a "surprise" appearance – but only after Trump bragged about putting coal miners back to work (nationwide, there are only 800 more people employed in coal mining today than in early January, according to Politifact, and only about 50,800 coal mining jobs in the entire U.S.), mocked the investigation into Russian collusion in the elections, insisted that prosecutors instead look into "Hillary Clinton's 33,000 deleted emails" (the crowd cheered "Lock her up!"). Then he introduced Justice, who made the big announcement that he was returning to the Republican fold.

As the song goes, "How can they hear the truth above the roar?"

Justice, too, may have had a reason to want a little hocus-pocus: as his Republican opponent in 2016 pointed out then and his now-former party brought up post-announcement, Justice's own state tax department has filed four liens against his company this year for $1 million in unpaid taxes and penalties – and, notably, he sold one of his coal companies to a Russian conglomerate for over $550 million in 2009, only to buy it back for $5 million in 2015. The Democratic Governor's Association issued a statement suggesting that there was some quid pro quo for Justice's return to the Republican fold but, really ... it could be a simple as the optics of bringing someone with the name Justice over the Republican side in front of cheering crowds.

And so the dance went on: News headlines trumpeted the party-switch, with the information that it was more of a return than a new calling buried somewhere well below the lead. Justice's remarks about not being able to side with the Democrats right now was generally near the top, as was his strange statement "I can't help you anymore being a Democrat governor" – which is funny coming from a (former) Democratic governor who quite literally served up a tray of cow puckey to Republican legislators in his state earlier this year during a budget fight. He also mentioned his new relationship with the Trump sons, who will, perhaps, get credit for bringing him back into the fold.