Donald Trump had a complicated relationship with Roy Moore. He formally endorsed Luther Strange in the primary, for reasons that were never altogether clear (as a favor to Jeff Sessions, perhaps?), but quickly threw Strange under the bus once Moore won the primary.
It’s not surprising that Trump backed Moore. I don’t think Donald’s anything close to the theocrat that Moore is, but the “contrary swamp-drainer who defies the establishment” thing has to have looked appealing, not to mention being able to both tweak Mitch McConnell’s nose and maintain an ostensible GOP majority in the Senate.
And perhaps it was inevitable that Trump would double-down once the sexual impropriety allegations started coming up against Moore. As a dude who has so far managed to avoid any consequences from allegations against himself, supporting Moore in those circumstances was clearly a way to flip a finger at his own critics.
Trump didn’t actively campaign for Moore, but he recorded a robocall, and held a rally just across the border in Pensacola, and tweeted almost daily on his behalf, and mentioned Moore over and over again in speeches.
And now … Moore and, by extension, Trump have lost. Except Trump never, ever loses.
Yesterday he was tweeting:
The people of Alabama will do the right thing. Doug Jones is Pro-Abortion, weak on Crime, Military and Illegal Immigration, Bad for Gun Owners and Veterans and against the WALL. Jones is a Pelosi/Schumer Puppet. Roy Moore will always vote with us. VOTE ROY MOORE!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 12, 2017
But as of last night:
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
Trump seems willing to credit Jones with a victory, even if he hedges around it with “write-in votes” (1.7% of the vote, where Jones won by 1.5%) and by promising GOP victory when the seat comes back up for regular election.
But, just to be clear, Trump didn’t lose this election. In fact, it turns out he was right all the time!
The reason I originally endorsed Luther Strange (and his numbers went up mightily), is that I said Roy Moore will not be able to win the General Election. I was right! Roy worked hard but the deck was stacked against him!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 13, 2017
And there it is. Trump didn’t not-win the primary for Strange, Strange still somehow mysteriously lost, even though Trump says he bumped up Strange’s poll numbers (no, he really didn’t). And Trump didn’t not-win the election for Moore, Moore could never win in the first place (as Trump predicted!), so it’s really a win for Trump!
Ha. Pull the other one, Donald.
Oddly enough, none of the media outlets I checked — including Fox News and Breitbart — pointed to any previous predictions by Trump that Moore couldn’t win. Maybe they were in the pro-Strange tweets from the primary that Trump deleted after Strange’s loss. Which makes me wonder when his pro-Moore tweets will disappear.
If last night’s election proved anything, it proved that we need to put up GREAT Republican candidates to increase the razor thin margins in both the House and Senate.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 13, 2017
Well, that’s actually hard to argue, both empirically (a deplorable GOP candidate lost what should have been the most secure GOP seat in the nation), and conceptually (putting up “GREAT” candidates is a good thing to do, though Donald sure seemed to think Moore was “GREAT” until he lost). And it’s true that the GOP margin in the Senate will get that much more narrow once Jones is sworn in (though McConnell has made it clear that won’t happen until the tax bill is rammed through, for reasons).
But the House of Representatives is currently 240-194, a 46 vote GOP majority. That’s not really a razor-thin margin, until you factor in the internecine warfare within the GOP that makes it difficult to pull together a majority for so many things.
Nevertheless, Donald Trump is correct: the GOP’s candidates would be more successful if they avoided alleged molesters, states rights zanies, and theocrats, like Roy Moore. Here’s hoping they actually take that advice to heart.
This is not complicated. This is Trump's MO. You're only useful if you're a winner, and Trump is Always Right. Since Trump always lies, too, he just states whatever the best narrative for him is at the time.
tl;dr: Trump always has a bus nearby.
Moore's loss is actually a blessing for Trump. With Trump's emphasis on loyalty, the last thing that he needed in the Senate is a maverick who does what he pleases. Having John McCain and Ted Cruz as Republican Senators is bad enough for Trump; what would happen if Senator Moore called Trump bad for Alabama?
In military speak it's called, "Advancing to the rear."