What looks like a second "false-flag" operation aimed at disrupting Alabama's 2017 Senate race has been revealed.
Republican Roy Moore's tight 2017 loss to Sen. Doug Jones (D-Ala.) is largely attributed to multiple credible allegations of sexual predation, which Moore denied. But a report from The New York Times suggests fake Facebook accounts tying Moore to prohibition could've played a role too.
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A second, separate group of Democrats seems to have had the same idea, the Times reported Monday. They reportedly created a Facebook page called "Dry Alabama," which suggested Moore would prohibit alcohol — which it called "the devil's tonic" — in the state. But instead of appealing to prohibitionist conservatives, it was actually supposed to convince pro-alcohol voters to oppose Moore, anonymous sources say. A progressive activist who worked on the project defended it to the Times, saying that if Republicans engage in disinformation, Democrats "have a moral imperative" to do so too.
"It is hard to say for sure that Dry Alabama had no impact" on Jones' narrow 22,000-vote margin of victory, the Times says. Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall is currently looking into the first reported disinformation campaign.
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