In Washington, political motivation is usually as transparent as the morning fog. Yes, of course, it is certainly true that many bright-eyed altruists descend upon the capital every year with a song in their heart, hoping to make a difference for the American people, slavishly devoting themselves to the bureaucratic arts in the hopes that incremental change puts food on the table and validates the Founding Fathers’ almighty ambitions. But then there’s everyone else—the people with an angle or an endgame, motivated by money or legacy, eagerly happy to climb the ladder or politely drop a banana peel in front of a peer, albeit cloaked in the name of democracy. And then there’s Joe Manchin.