Congratulations to Doug Jones on a hard fought victory. The write-in votes played a very big factor, but a win is a win. The people of Alabama are great, and the Republicans will have another shot at this seat in a very short period of time. It never ends!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 13, 2017
That's a modest, well-balanced response, but will he get any credit for that?
In the primary, Trump fought hard for Moore's GOP opponent, but he adjusted and found a way to support Moore — who was made very hard to stand anywhere near. Now that Roy Moore is out, Trump is moving on. He's an optimist who tends to see the good in whatever happens and to go searching for new ways to win. In this case — I'll say, modeling optimism — Trump is better off looking for good things elsewhere than stuck with Roy Moore, his candidate, in the flesh, in the Senate, vocalizing social conservatism in an unappealing way and attracting a big expulsion effort.
Do you remember that it was called a "stunning defeat" for Trump when Roy Moore won the primary?* On September 27, I blogged by WaPo's Robert Costa, said:
Moore’s win... demonstrates the real political limitations of Trump, who endorsed “Big Luther” at McConnell’s urging and staged a rally for Strange in Huntsville, Ala., just days before the primary. The outcome is likely to further fray Trump’s ties to Republicans in Congress, many of whom now fear that even his endorsement cannot protect them from voter fury.I said:
What if this thing that seems to be Trump is bigger than Trump — a wave he figured out how to ride for a little while, but from which he can fall and which will roll on without him? Or is the whole thing — whatever it is (anti-establishment fury?) — already played out? We can't have an endless string of characters like Trump and, now, Moore... can we?...Yesterday, Alabama chose normality, and there's good in that for Trump, who's pretty bizarre.
How many "out there" candidates can there be? How wild can you be before people won't trust you? It's hard to know in post-2016 America. We've got a taste for the bizarre and we don't trust the appearance of normality anymore.
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36 comments:
I'd rather Moore lost for policy reasons, but he wasn't going to lose for policy reasons. Especially when his opponent was Doug Jones. But there you go. Trump's right--Jones should not get too comfortable in the Senate.
I admit I'm surprised Moore lost in a way... Alabamans are a fierce and proud people when I comes to outside agitation -particularly from the media. Moore however was one of those people who the more you know the less you like to see of I think.
Doug Jones will have to really play it close if he wants to have any chance to keep his seat. As polarized as things are now I don't see how he can pull it off, but who knows?
It is amusing (and crazy) that the press insists this is a huge blow to Trump. If Moore had won they would be saying it was a huge blow to Trump. Kinda makes you think they have it out for him or something.
A good salesman always stays classy. The client rejected your offer? Don't get mad and tell them they are stupid. Do that and they will never buy from them.
Tell them they did OK, even if it was not the outcome you wanted and they will remember that the next time. You lost this one, no need to lose all future sales.
President Trump has spent his entire life selling. This is just part of the lessen he learned.
Contrast this with Crooked, Whiney, Hilary's response to losing.
The more I see of President Trump the more I like him.
I am sad about Moore's loss but we have had enough winning in the past year and enough winning to look forward to over the next 7 that I can handle it.
John Henry
And the usual suspects are masturbating furiously.
A guy like Moore can't get elected? Obviously, a stunning repudiation of Trump and a resounding affirmation of confidence in Uniparty normality.
All the Republicans on Fox business thought it was a good thing for the Republican party that Moore lost.
I guess this means that Althouse's relations won't be setting up an election results prediction service anytime soon.
Did you see the usatoday oped on Trump?
Saddest person in America is Al Franken, who was planning to say, "If all those stupid people in Alabama are gong to put a #@$%& like Roy Moore in the Senate, then I don't see why I -- wonderful I -- should leave."
GOP e loves to lose almost as much as never Trumps
Dem national strategy is war on women that won't change with our Moore and truth has nothing to do with it
Other elections local hope to catch wave
Well, from the White House POV, there's this:
Downside: Moore lost.
Upside: Moore lost.
Dems can't make him the face of the Republican Senate for 2018.
Dems can't use a Sen. Moore to hammer at Trump re: Me Too.
Al Franken's escape hatch just closed. Buh-bye Al!
Gloria Allred's clients will suddenly find out today that their phone calls won't be returned.
Me Too re: Trump will lose steam.
Instead of being a daily punchline and joke on all media platforms, Moore will slink back to wherever he was before.
Within a week or so (unless the Stupid Party follows its name) Trump will have a tax bill victory.
So there's that.
They should have listened to Trump in the first place and gone with strange.
Just watch. Jones will toe the party line on every important vote.
Sessions might run for his old seat. Jones loses in 2020.
No they should have gone with the Congressman who was the best candidate but who is an enemy of McConnell.
This was a McConnell power play.
BADubois: Al Franken's escape hatch just closed. Buh-bye Al!
I very seriously doubt that. He won't go unless he's pushed, and the brave congressional #MeToo-ers are going to inexplicably misplace their indignation toward him.
I see the Republicans retain the moral high ground, good for them. So when will Democrats demand Franken leave office?
Moore is now available to replace Sessions as AG, if Mueller doesn't fold the tent and go home.
No they should have gone with the Congressman who was the best candidate but who is an enemy of McConnell.
He was my choice, by a mile.... Mo might run in the 20 month away election for the seat. Who knows.
Moore is now available to replace Sessions as AG, if Mueller doesn't fold the tent and go home.
Mo might run in the 20 month away election for the seat.
Campaign slogan? Mo, Larry, Cheese.
How strong would Moore be if he fights the allegations in court, wins, and then comes back?
Jones will have to be to the right of Susan Collins.
Allthouse said: "Yesterday, Alabama chose normality, and there's good in that for Trump, who's pretty bizarre."
Normalcy should not be our goal when the current normal state is dysfunction.
Trump was elected because he represented a change from the normal. Moore got as close as he did because he would have disrupted business as usual in Washington. Many Americans recognize the need to bring the federal government under control. Moore would have shortened government's leash. Jones will remove the leash.
Leland: I see the Republicans retain the moral high ground, good for them. So when will Democrats demand Franken leave office?
Around the same time that Republicans accrue any political benefit from occupying the Moral High Ground*.
*Definition wholly owned and operated by Democratic Party. The GOPe respects their exclusive property rights.
"Alabama chose normality" Yeah, sure.
The New Normality: Women Must Be Believed.
AKA: Let's Fetishize Our Way to Power.
It's working.
It's not bizarre. Trump is playing by guys' rules. They're opponents, not enemies.
Trump is actually a gentleman. Rudeness so called is just part of the rules of the game. Outside the game they're not enemies.
Women are the opposite. The Dems play by women's rules.
Moore has the same failing as Klavan of late. They dogmatize god and use it as the final certainty in arguments.
That cancels out any insight they might have.
This is a critical defeat, for Trump, and moreso for the American people, and most elsewhere too as American problems always have global fallout. There is nothing good in this, as it reinforces the decadent political machines and impedes reform - which is already a very long shot.
Anyone who thinks there is a silver lining here is mistaken.
My abuelita would call such thought "un consuelo de bobo", a fools consolation.
There is no such thing as "moral high ground".
This is foolishness.
It is just a trope to feed into the propaganda Wurlitzer.
If not this one, something else will do just as well.
Only the machine matters.
Modest? Well-balanced? WTF?
What Tommy Duncan said.
Congratulations to the decent people of Alabama. They made sure decency won. And decency should be the norm.
@Angel Dyne "A guy like Moore can't get elected? Obviously, a stunning repudiation of Trump and a resounding affirmation of confidence in Uniparty normality."
I actually think that this IS a stunning repudiation of Trump. They brought him in as a "closer". But the evidence from both an election with a "regular" Republican (Virginia) and an election now with an "unconventional" Republican (Alabama!) seems to suggest that Trump is quite as unpopular as the polls all this year have been saying.
KittyM: I actually think that this IS a stunning repudiation of Trump. They brought him in as a "closer". But the evidence from both an election with a "regular" Republican (Virginia) and an election now with an "unconventional" Republican (Alabama!) seems to suggest that Trump is quite as unpopular as the polls all this year have been saying.
Wow, a creepy weirdo with a load of baggage lost in Alabama, and the demographically transformed counties of the Old Dominion and its Beltway suburbs didn't vote for the Republican? (Yes, I remember how shocked, shocked I was by those Fairfax County returns.)
If that isn't a repudiation of Trump by the people who voted for him, I don't know what is.
But I don't mean to be churlish on a happy dance day that is rightfully yours. Enjoy!
Great day in the morning - yea Alabama!
Doug Jones will have to really play it close if he wants to have any chance to keep his seat.
What does he care? Next Democratic president will make him chairman of Fannie Mae or something and he'll get his hundred million.
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