Trump spurned by voters’ rejection of his candidate

Bloomberg

President Donald Trump was rebuffed by the same Alabama voters who turned out en masse for him in November when they rejected his choice for the US Senate in favour of an unabashed religious conservative who ran against the Washington establishment.
Roy Moore, a former chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court who was removed from office for his display of a Ten Commandments statue, defeated incumbent Senator Luther Strange, capturing almost 55 percent of the vote.
Trump—who belittled traditional Republicans in his insurgent bid for the presidency—had campaigned for Strange in Alabama and sent Twitter messages urging fellow Republicans to vote for him. But Moore was more effective in harnessing Trump’s base than even Trump by convincing voters he would be better at carrying out the president’s anti-Washington agenda than Strange. “Spoke to Roy Moore of Alabama last night for the first time. Sounds like a really great guy who ran a fantastic race,” Trump said in a tweet. Several of Trump’s tweets in support of Strange were deleted from his account on Tuesday night, according to ProPublica.
Trump couldn’t sway the supporters who gave him 62.9 percent of Alabama’s vote in November, raising the prospect that his efforts to support or oppose candidates may mean little in next year’s midterm congressional elections. By backing Strange, Trump allied himself with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, an establishment GOP leader he has repeatedly criticised for failing to orchestrate the repeal of Obamacare.
The primary played out as a proxy fight between Trump and his former strategist Stephen Bannon, who backed Moore as the candidate who could best deliver on the Trump campaign’s populist promises.
GOP voters sent a strong rebuke to Republican leaders in Congress, with Moore pledging to try to unseat McConnell. Both Moore and Strange said they would back the president’s agenda, but Moore has shown a willingness to stray. His spokesman told he opposed the GOP’s latest health-care legislation, backed by Trump, because it didn’t go far enough in undoing Obamacare.
“We have to return the knowledge of God and the Constitution of the United States to the United States Congress,” Moore told supporters at his victory party, according to the Associated Press.
Moore will go on to face Democrat Doug Jones, a former US attorney, in a December 12 special election. Jones faces an uphill battle in Alabama, which last elected a Democratic senator in 1990.
Strange was appointed to the Senate seat in February when Trump picked former Senator Jeff Sessions to be attorney general.
During a rally for Strange in Alabama, Trump said that while Strange would have a better chance of beating Jones, the president would campaign for Moore if he won. After Moore won, Trump deleted several earlier tweets backing Strange and then posted a new message: “Congratulations to Roy Moore on his Republican Primary win in Alabama. Luther Strange started way back & ran a good race. Roy, WIN in Dec!”
A person close to the president, who asked not to be identified, said Strange’s loss would be catastrophic, the consequence of Trump crossing his base by supporting McConnell’s handpicked candidate. A super PAC linked to McConnell pumped money into Strange’s campaign. The results could weaken Trump’s ability to intimidate Republican lawmakers running for re-election next year.
Moore is known outside Alabama for being removed twice as chief justice of the state Supreme Court.