Good day all. There was a primary election in Alabama on the Republican side to formally replace Senator Jeff Sessions. President Trump was backing the current holder of the seat, Luther Strange. Opposing him was Judge Roy Moore.
This struck a number of people as odd. Strange seemed to be a classic member of the GOP(e) wing of the Beltway Uniparty. Judge Moore seems to be more in line with what President Trump wants to do. Yesterday, the primary was held and Judge Moore pasted Lex Luther Strange. Here are the details from Fox News:
Former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore soundly defeated Sen. Luther Strange in Tuesday’s Senate primary runoff, overcoming heavy GOP establishment support for the incumbent, including from President Trump himself.
The hard-fought Alabama runoff battle had pitted Trump against some of his most loyal supporters including former chief strategist Steve Bannon, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and a slew of House conservatives who all backed Moore. Despite his outsider image, Moore seemed to have the edge over Strange from the start.
This is where it gets weird. All of the people who supported Trump last year were supporting Moore, yet Trump campaigned for Strange. Interestingly, the Trump supporters who backed Moore called his victory a win for President Trump.
Bannon declared Moore’s win a victory for Trump, despite the president’s support for Strange. Both Trump and Vice President Mike Pence traveled to Alabama to make the case for the incumbent in the final week of the race.
I didn’t follow that race all that closely. I was aware of it, and I know who Judge Moore is. I actually liked his style when he was fighting the other courts. He stood by his principles even when it cost him his position. As to why President Trump backed Strange instead? I think it was due to his being the incumbent. Once Judge Moore had crushed Strange, Trump scrubbed his twitter feed and threw his support to Moore.
After Strange’s concession, the president Tweeted his congratulations to Moore and implored him to “WIN in [December]!”
As I said, I didn’t follow this race all that closely, but it seemed me that Trump’s support was rather…tepid. He didn’t do his usual “Pound them into the ground and then kick them” style of politicking. I have the feeling that the “Fix was in” and that everyone knew that Lex Luther Strange didn’t have a snowballs chance in Hell in the Primary. As for the General?
Moore is now the favorite in December’s general election against Democrat Doug Jones, a lawyer and former U.S. attorney during President Bill Clinton’s administration. The winner of that race will complete the Senate term started by Attorney General Jeff Sessions and be up for re-election in 2020.
So now we wait for the General Election. Unless Moore really steps on his crank, he’s probably going to win. If he does, one person who will be very unhappy will be Mitch “The Turtle” McCockless. Judge Moore is a swamp drainer and if his past history is any guide. The Turtle is going to have his hands full, probably with his head going “Why are these people not listening to me and electing people I don’t like?” I foresee interesting times ahead for the Beltway Swamp Dwellers.
Thatisall
~The Angry Webmaster~
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