The Alabama Gambit

Taking the temperature of the room, most people seem burned out with politics these days. It’s probably because if the Trump presidency has accomplished one thing, it’s to convince most people that there is no political solution to our problems.

The lack of urgency is why politics has gotten boring. Everybody’s wise to the song and dance by now. Trump tweets a bombastic statement promising some big move on one of his key planks. MAGApedes swoon. Trump walks back his statement, making action conditional on some foreign government or the Democrats playing ball. Weeks pass, and everybody forgets the whole affair. Meanwhile, Dems carry on as if the Fourth Reich is abducting kids from Latin America and stuffing them in boxcars.

Frankly, it’s not disappointing anymore. It’s just tedious. That’s why I don’t write about politics anymore unless something inherently interesting happens. We have the makings of some top notch political theater in the 2020 Alabama US Senate race.

The 2017 special election to replace then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions proved quite the spectacular circus train wreck. For those who automatically purge events predating the last Star Wars movie from memory, that was the US Senate election that saw the Republican establishment mobilize to help smear their own party’s candidate and hand a solid GOP seat to the Democrats.

Curiously, you see a lot of blame heaped on Republican candidate Roy Moore. That he ran an anemic campaign is beside the point. Any Republican could have run an identical campaign and won if not for Leftist shysters ginning up a manufactured #metoo case and the GOP going along.

Even dumber, some Republicans still slander Moore as some kind of sex criminal. The subsequent vindication of Justice Brett Kavanaugh should have permanently discredited the Left’s sex scandal gambit. They ran the same op against Coach K, in large part because it worked on Moore.

Now it looks like Moore is counting on the Narrative’s collapse to get some vindication of his own. It’s not outside the realm of possibility, as early polls have shown Moore leading in a speculative Senate race

The potential Moore redemption arc is intriguing enough, but the situation gets even more interesting with the involvement of AL rep. Mo Brooks, who’s favored for Senate by the likes of Ann Coulter, and the astonishing return of former Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

Trump is reportedly less than pleased with Sessions’ decision.

With the GOP Alabama Senate primary looking like a three-man tug of war, what would the smart play for the Republicans be if they got serious about winning this seat back? What would a real 4D chess master do?

If I’m Trump, I pick a favorite now and start courting local party players in Alabama to secure him the nomination. It’s a tough choice because all three of these guys are pretty solid. But I’ve got to pick one, so I pick Mo Brooks. He’s the youngest of the three, and we want this seat held for the long haul.

What to do with Moore and Sessions? That’s where the 4D chess comes in. If I were Trump, I’d nominate Roy Moore for the US Supreme Court. And no, I wouldn’t wait for a vacancy. I’d do it right now. Today.

Don’t think that nominating another SCOTUS judge while the bench is technically full is beyond the pale. More than one current Dem presidential candidate is openly advocating packing the court with additional justices. A tactic the enemy uses is fair game for you to use.

For maximum chaos, I’d be sure to accompany the nomination with a number of tweets mentioning how you never know when you’ll need a spare SCOTUS justice since many aren’t exactly the picture of health. Ginsburg is low hanging fruit. I’d throw in a Sotomayor diabetes reference for good measure.

Who knows? The shock might make this a self-fulfilling prophecy. I’d pad my odds by having Tucker Carlson add a SCOTUS dead pool segment with nightly odds updates. All of this is, of course, pure speculation, as I would never wish harm on anyone.

When the news cycle eventually wound down from a fever pitch, I’d wait a week and nominate Jeff Sessions for SCOTUS. Mind you, I wouldn’t withdraw Moore’s nomination. I’d keep them both nominated at the same time.

Moore would almost certainly accept the nomination and run with it as a chance at vindication, which is what he clearly wants most. Watching his confirmation hearing performance would be a hoot. He’d make Coach K. look like Ben Stein.

Sessions would be a tougher case. Getting him on board would probably require a closed-door meeting with a personal apology for abusing him during his tenure as AG. I’d tactfully point out that this is no longer his fight, and it’s time to pass the torch, but he’d make a great Supreme Court justice.

By that time, the press will be in such a frothing furor that they’ll have forgotten all about the Alabama senate race. As the clear Republican candidate running in a clean race, Mo Brooks should mop the floor with Doug Jones.

Meanwhile, I’d leave the SCOTUS circus running as long as necessary. If a vacancy opens up, I’d publicly proclaim Moore exonerated and give the seat to Sessions. Everybody’s happy.

Except for the Democrats, who are howling in impotent rage at the sky.

Remember when they used to do that? Good times.