May 10, 2018--Trump's 19.9%

Searching for the elusive number of how many constitute Donald Trump's most fervent supporters, those willing to take a bullet for him, West Virginia is not a bad place to look for answers. 

In 2016  he carried the state by an incredible 42 points. So it may be helpful to glance at the results of Tuesday's Republican primary to see if there is evidence about the size of his rock-bottom base. 

Don Blankenship was one of three candidates seeking to win the nomination and go up against incumbent, almost-a-Republican Democratic Senator Joe Manchin. Some polls had Blankenship in the lead. So much so that he felt justified labeling himself "Trumpier than Trump."

Blankenship, though, did suffer from some self-inflicted problems. For example, he is a convicted felon, having spent a year in jail for failing to maintain safety while CEO of Massey Energy's WV coal mine where 29 miners were killed in a 2010 explosion.

And as part of his campaign to position himself even further to the right than Trump when it comes to immigration issues, he referred to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's wife, Elaine Chou, as Mitch's "China family."

Learning about that McConnell called Trump to ask him to stop supporting Blankenship. On the day before the election Trump announced he was not backing him. More important than being offended by the racial slur, we know no one is allowed to proclaim himself Trumpier than Trump. Only Trump is allowed to be the Trumpiest.

Blankenship did come in third but still received 19.9 percent of the vote.

It could be that this represents Trump's bottom-bottom line. It's not 38 percent nor 42 percent, but his dead-enders add up to a tenth less than 20 percent. That sounds about right.

If true, this is good news because as things close in even further on Trump and those voters up for garbs slowly shear away under a relentless tsunami of scandalous news, if he is still in office in 2020, he will have a long way to got to win reelection.