Alabamans Send a Rebuke to the President Over His Brand-Damaging Strange Endorsement

Have you been watching this Alabama Senate race?  Lots of interesting implications for the nation.  Mainly, it’s interesting that Alabamans are not rallying behind President Donald Trump’s candidate of choice.  I wrote about this on the The Daily Caller:

Luther Strange has a name that captures the essence of modern American politics.

On Tuesday, the Alabama senator faces a very important special election, a runoff against Judge Roy Moore.  Strange was appointed to his seat under the most questionable of circumstances.  For those that don’t know Alabama politics, pay attention.  There are national implications.

When President Donald Trump appointed Jeff Sessions as United States Attorney General, Governor Robert Bentley appointed the state attorney general – Strange – to temporarily fill the senate seat.  This, alone, is not a big deal, but Governor Bentley may have had his own reasons to select Strange

In March of 2016, Bentley’s wife of fifty years divorced him just before an explicit phone conversation with an aide became public.  Republicans distanced themselves from the Governor, amidst allegations of impropriety related to the affair. The Alabama Ethics Commission said Bentley may have broken the law. There were allegations Bentley may have illegally loaned money to his campaign to cover legal fees for his lover, and that Bentley may have fired the state’s top cop after he saw a sexually explicit message from the aid. Bentley appointed Strange to replace Sessions just as Strange was considering investigating the governor.

Now, I don’t personally know Strange. I’ve heard he is a decent guy and there is no evidence that he there appointment necessitated any quid pro quo, but the appointment under these circumstances certainly reeks of the “swamp behavior” Trump claims to hate. It seems like an odd political move to associate oneself with Strange, but that’s exactly what Trump did, which was a brand damaging move for two reasons.

Enjoy the rest of this piece over on The Daily Caller.

Image Credit: Gage Skidmore [CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons