Roy Moore's Alabama victory shows Trumpism might not actually need Trump

A movement gets a mind of its own

Roy Moore in Alabama
(Image credit: Scott Olson/Getty Images)

The Senate Republican primary runoff in Alabama presented a thoroughly bizarre test of President Trump's political clout given that no one could quite figure out who the "pro-Trump" candidate was. On paper, at least, that designation belonged to Sen. Luther Strange, who received Trump's enthusiastic endorsement. The president went down to Alabama to campaign for Strange, tweeted incessantly about his appreciation for "Big Luther," and even boasted (in a since-deleted tweet) that Strange "has been shooting up in the Alabama polls since my endorsement."

As with so many of Trump's pronouncements, that turned out to be nonsense. Strange lost badly on Tuesday night to former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore. A committed birther who rails against the political establishment and vents irrational hatred toward Muslims, Moore was clearly the Trumpier of the two candidates. Moore didn't get Trump's endorsement, but he got the backing of pretty much every other cog in the ramshackle Trump political machine, including recently ousted White House chief strategist Stephen Bannon.

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Simon Maloy

Simon Maloy is a political writer and researcher in Washington, DC. His work has been published by The Huffington Post, The American Prospect, and Salon.