MOBILE, Alabama — For a perfect example of the hold President Trump has on Republican “base” voters, look no farther than the behavior of candidates in the much-watched GOP primary race for United States Senate in Alabama.
In a battle to attract the (supposedly) Trump-besotted Republican voters in next March’s primary, each of the candidates has cravenly rushed to sound the most Trump-like in their stances on the Ukraine-impeachment mess. Rather than show any judiciousness, any acknowledgment that Trump’s attempt to sic a foreign government on a political rival is unprecedented and at least somewhat disturbing, the candidates sound like caricatures. Unable even to show originality, they mimic Trump’s now-clichéd buzzwords and paranoia-inducing rhetoric.
Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill says the probe into Trump’s actions is “clearly a witch hunt designed to hurt the @realDonaldTrump.” And, even with the question of quid pro quo still very much open, he has insisted that “there is no indication the president has … violated any of the trust and confidence that has been placed in him by the people.” The investigation is “obviously a blatant attempt to discredit @realDonaldTrump … to advance the political agenda by a liberal element in Washington.”
Long-shot businessman-candidate Stanley Adair said someone must “stand up to these crazies in Washington.” State Rep. Arnold Mooney blasted the “Godless Democrats” who “want to destroy everything we believe in.” Former Auburn football coach Tommy Tuberville, leading in most polls despite having voted less than 12 months ago in neighboring Florida instead of Alabama, says Democrats “have absolutely lost their minds.” In a radio interview, he went further: “I call it good versus evil … These people have an ulterior motive [against] Donald Trump and this country and the Christian base of this country … Look at these people’s (Democrats’) faces who have the hate in their eyes for a guy who the people of this country elected to be their president.”
U.S. Rep. Bradley Byrne, meanwhile, with a prior reputation stylistically (although not ideologically) as the least “Trumpy” candidate in the field, has become what one local columnist described as “probably the screechiest.” He’s using opposition to impeachment in social media solicitations and releasing Tweet after statement after newspaper column, day after day after day, blasting the whole investigation without any concern for whether the president acted even the slightest bit improperly, even if not impeachably.
He wrote the whole thing is a “manufactured scandal” and “ludicrous,” said he will “vehemently fight” impeachment that is being pushed by the “Socialist Squad,” and that the inquiry is “deceitful and nefarious.” Going full Trump, Byrne repeatedly denounces the “witch hunt” that is based on “fake news” that is “hell-bent on sabotaging” the president.
Oddly, the least demagogic of the Republican candidates on this issue appears to be controversial former state Chief Justice Roy Moore who, comparatively mildly, has merely said that “President Trump has been under investigation ever since he took office. Were the Clintons or Obamas ever under as much scrutiny as Trump currently is? Both parties should spend more time focusing on real issues.” When Moore is the least outlandish candidate on a subject, the others are clearly in full pander mode.
It is one thing to express doubts about impeachment. It is another to counterattack as if there’s absolutely nothing of concern in the whole Trump-Ukraine situation — especially with multiple whistleblowers and copious subpoenas still waiting for follow-up fact-finding.
Trump is the demigod at whose shrine Alabama candidates apparently must worship. Woe to the office-seeker who dares wait for evidence and context. Rushes to judgment are all the rage, so why bother with constitutional duty, much less statesmanship?
