Democratic candidate for senate, Doug Jones, upset Republican challenger Roy Moore Tuesday night in the most-watched general election of 2017. All eyes were on the state of Alabama and Doug Jones pulled off the upset:
Democrat Doug Jones shocked this state, and the country, by defeating Republican Roy Moore in Alabama’s Senate special election Tuesday, a victory that sounds a loud warning to the White House and the Republican Party.
President Trump had thrown his full support behind Moore, who was a controversial figure even before multiple allegations emerged that he had pursued inappropriate relationships with teenagers as an adult.
Jones’ victory is a shot in the arm for Democrats, who are hoping that anger at Trump and congressional Republicans will fuel a “wave” election in 2018, flipping the U.S. House of Representatives, and perhaps even the Senate, blue.
“Tonight is a night for rejoicing,” Jones told a jubilant crowd in Birmingham after defeating Moore 670,551 votes to 649,240, with 100 percent of the vote counted.
Jones is a former U.S. attorney who prosecuted Ku Klux Klan members for an a church bombing in Birmingham, AL in the early 1960s. President Trump implored Alabamans to beat back the Jones threat since he was “soft on crime.” The president has a knack for making up his own facts, and saying them over and over again until they become the truth. He never gave any evidence of Jones being soft on crime he simply put it out there, repeated it an hoped it stick. Trump also had no evidence Roy Moore was tough on crime, particularly given allegations that he tried to date teenage girls when he was in his 30s.
Jones will be the first Democrat to represent Alabama in 25 years. Let that sink in. A traditional Republican state, filled with christian evangelicals staunchly against abortion just elected a pro-choice candidate. He fills the seat vacated by Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
Donald Trump Stays Losing
Alabama marks the third consecutive defeat for President Trump. He lost big time in Virginia; many seats went to that state due to worries over healthcare. President Trump has vowed to repeal Obamacare … just because he thought he could. He has tried to remove all vestiges of Barack Obama’s presence in the White House and it cost him dearly in Virginia. He backed Luther Strange in the Alabama primary, but Strange lost to the Steve Bannon-backed Moore. Now Moore has been upset by Doug Jones. President Trump stumped hard for Moore, which now appears to be a political mistake. He clapped back at Moore’s teenage accusers and tried to destroy their credibility.
The reality is that many Alabamans believed the sexual assault claims against Moore. The Democratic party won, but there were other winners. Moore has been an embarrassment to the entire state of Alabama and the Republican party. The fact Alabama would even consider sending a pedophile to the senate is crazy. Several members of the GOP also voted against Moore because of the character issues. Moore likely would have been a distraction had he gotten elected anyway. It would have possibly faced an investigation into ethics violations, which would have dominated the 24-hour news cycle and potentially clouded his ability to do his job. His lost to Jones might have allowed the GOP to forgo certain knock-on effects of having a pedophile in the senate.
Nonetheless, President Trump was conciliatory after the Democratic victory:
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!
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
Roy Moore suggested it wasn’t over and called for a recount. However, he is delusional as usual. He is also under the delusion that he never sexually assaulted any teenage girls. Moore has been shooed away from malls in Alabama. Chatter suggested people were assigned to keep him away from cheerleaders at high school football games. One of Moore’s former colleagues implied that it was well-known Moore “dated” teenage girls. Moore is out and now the Republican tax reform plan could be in jeopardy.
The plan was approved in the Senate by a narrow margin earlier this month. Congress and the Senate will now have to “true-up” differing plans. It is difficult to determine what the differences really are because the plan keeps changing. It was put together in haste and the Republicans want to get it passed by year-end before anyone realizes that it makes no sense to begin with. The Republicans can only lose one vote. Senator Bob Corker (R-Tenn) voted against the bill once and Senator Susan Collin (R-Maine) is on the fence due to concerns over the repeal of Obamacare. Moore will be sworn in next month so it’s either now or never the tax reform bill, higher stock prices, and hot air from the Republicans that they finally accomplished something. After losing the Senate seat to a Democrat in a Republican state, President Trump is desperate at this point.
On Trump And The Global Economy
The second installment of Trump And The Global Economy Town Hall took place October 24th in Fort Greene. It Featured Professor Lance Brofman, Coconut Rob (Coconut Rob Smoothies), Wuyi Jacobs (AfroBeats Radio) and Ralph Baker, author of Shock Exchange: How Inner-City Kids From Brooklyn Predicted the Great Recession and the Pain Ahead.
The event was well-received by the community. We parsed through President Trump’s proposed tax plan and [i] how it was pure economic folly and [ii] high net worth individuals could potentially game the system by shifting income around. Apparently, Kansas Coach Bill Self did this when the state of Kansas cut taxes in the past. We discussed the pros and cons of technology on workers and the economy. How will the economy and country prosper under Trump’s leadership vis-a-vis Obama? What’s behind the verbal sparring with black athletes, ESPN’s Jemele Hill and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un?
