Last night, the citizens of the state of Alabama held a special election to fill a seat to the
United States Senate made vacant by the departure of Senator Jeff Sessions who since has become the Attorney General and head of the Department of Justice under President Trump. By the narrowest of margins (1.5% of the vote), Democrat Doug Jones won the election.Alabamans seem displeased by either candidate and neither candidate could win a clear majority of all Alabaman voters.
During the Republican primary run-off to select the candidate for last night's election, President Trump had endorsed the temporary appointment, Luther Strange. The head of Breitbart.com, one of the most popular Republican conservative oriented news sites of the Internet, and one-time campaign adviser to the President, Stephen Bannon, endorsed Roy Moore.
Roy Moore defeated Luther Strange in the Alabama GOP primary runoff on September 26, 2016.
In the debate held between Moore and Strange right before the primary runoff, Moore barely could speak. Moore's thoughts seemed scattered. Moore rambled. Strange came across as a composed man, an accomplished, worldly man.
Roy Moore was a Terrible Candidate
Well-known to Alabamans, the controversial Moore was twice removed as a jurist from the Alabama Supreme Court. In 2003 he defied an order to remove a Ten Commandments monument from a state courthouse, and in 2016 he ordered state probate judges not to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, in spite of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in favor of homosexual marriage.
Not only was Roy Moore a terrible candidate, but also Roy Moore was a vulnerable candidate. Decades ago, when the 70-year old Moore was in his early thirties, Moore had dated a few girls at or slightly above the legal age of 16. The establishment's media quickly attacked Moore by painting him as a teen stalker and perhaps a child molester.
Everyone judged Moore by today's standards and judged Moore as if he had dated 16 year old teens only last week. Few, if any, separated in their minds, the 70-year old Roy Moore of today from the 30-ish Roy Moore of 40 years ago.
One woman claimed she was only 14, when approached by Moore, which if true, would have been a crime. Amazon Billionaire, Jeff Bezos through his personal blog, the Washington Post, was all too happy to distort reality in the campaign to defeat Moore.
Once attacked by the Washington Post, Roy Moore's political team was too stupid in its defense and counter-attack. Moore needed to step forward and say something like this, all of which is true:
"There is only this middle-aged woman, a known drug addict, someone so reckless that she put herself in financial ruin many times, someone with a known history of mental illness who is outright lying about me, a 70 year old man who has been faithful to his wife every day since we married decades ago.
"And why? She has colluded and conspired with the leftists and socialists to steal Alabama from the great people of Alabama and give it to them. There simply is no 14 year old girl. There is only that lying middle-aged woman."
President Trump was right all along about the two men, Roy Moore and Luther Strange. Luther Stranger was the better horse to back.
President Trump knows how to deal. It is far better to deal with Republicans than to deal with Democrats. Even if Luther Strange had been an establishment Republican, it would still be easier for President Trump to deal with swamp Republicans since the swampy Republicans desire some of the same things as the President. With Republicans, the President can hold the Republicans to their own rhetoric in the public arena. As well, the president can withhold or slow down giving to Republicans in Senate those things they desire in exchange for what the President seeks to make the USA better.
The Democrats do not desire any of the same things as Bill of Rights oriented Americans. So when dealing with the Dems, the President must give up much more to get what he desires.
Because of the loss of a senate seat, the President could be forced to trade away some of his agenda in exchange for any real immigration reform. So perhaps building of the border wall to help Mexico keep Mexicans within its territory will be suspended. More than anything, Americans need immigration reform.
After the swearing in of senator-elect Jones, in the U.S. Senate, the Republicans will hold a 51-47 majority with two so-called independents siding with the Democrats. Senator-elect Jones will face re-election in only two years.
Bannon's Stupidity Lost Alabama to the Democrats but Only Until 2020.
The outcome of last night is thanks to Stephen Bannon and his short-sighted thinking. Stephen Bannon screwed Americans with his personal stupidity over his hatred for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Bannon championed Moore because Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell backed Luther Strange as the President had done. Strange would have helped the agenda at least in the short-term.
The outcome of last night should be a huge lesson to Stephen Bannon. Bannon first should fight to unseat Democrats. If immigration reform fails to happen and President Trump does not get re-elected in 2020, swapping out one or two Swamp Republicans will not matter.
Bannon was disloyal to both President Trump and the Make America Great Again agenda by meddling in Alabama and not backing the President's choice, the better choice, Luther Stranger.
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