The Reckoning
Trump is toxic. The Virginia results could be waved off. Wingnut Pundits will try to wave the Doug Jones win off, noting that Roy Moore was a flawed candidate. But by that measure every Republican supporting Trump (or supported by Trump) is a flawed candidate.
No. The tide has turned. Candidates that tie themselves to Trump are tying a anvil around their necks.
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Doug Jones, a Democratic former prosecutor who mounted a seemingly quixotic Senate campaign in the face of Republican dominance here, defeated his scandal-scarred opponent, Roy S. Moore, after a brutal campaign marked by accusations of sexual abuse and child molestation against the Republican, according to The Associated Press.
The upset delivered an unimagined victory for Democrats and shaved Republicans’ unstable Senate majority to a single seat.
Mr. Jones’s victory could have drastic consequences on the national level, snarling Republicans’ legislative agenda in Washington and opening, for the first time, a realistic but still difficult path for Democrats to capture the Senate next year. It amounted to a stinging snub of President Trump, who broke with much of his party and fully embraced Mr. Moore’s candidacy, seeking to rally support for him in the closing days of the campaign.
Not to mention the serial sexual abuser who is President. If Alabama could reject Roy Moore, I think America is ready to reject Donald Trump.
Time to turn up the heat.
There’s no reason to fear the bully any more. Opponents feared Mike Tyson until Buster Douglas, of all people, whipped his butt. After that, it was all over for Iron Mike. I think it’s the beginning of the end for Donald Trump, and it started tonight.
In looking at the 538.com election information, one surprising thing is that in many deep red Alabama counties, only about half of the people who voted for Trump in 2016 bothered to get out and vote at all. They simply stayed home, and in large number.
It was too much to ask them to vote for a Democrat, but it wasn’t too much for them to stay at home in shame.
For the tide to really remain turned, we need to work to make sure they remain ashamed to vote for their candidates.
I’d rather Moore was rejected because he promotes crackpot economic theories, which is the worse flaw. He is likely no longer a threat to individual women, but his votes in the Senate would have collectively harmed millions of women, children, and men.
But as we say in this state represented by Tom Carper – a win is a win.
AntiTrump sentiment will only get the Dems so far. Pretty far….but they’ll still need an economic message that makes sense.
The good news is that AntiTrump sentiment will bring out hordes of great candidates in every state district and neighborhood.
There is not an optimistic bone in my body, but Moore’s defeat does give me hope, and as noted this should spur Dem candidates in the deep south. But it’s not just Moore’s defeat, it’s evil Steve Bannon’s defeat as well and perhaps the end of his king maker days in politics. Then there’s Trump, who will now be lashing out at the people who got him to back Moore. Bracing for the tweetstorm…. Not really, can’t wait.
I’m glad Jones won, but I would have preferred he’d won against Strange than Moore. That would mean that a real tide had turned.