THE ALABAMA VEDICT

Contrary to most expectations the Democrats won the Senate seat in Alabama. Doug Jones defeated Roy Moore, and in doing so he gave the Republicans--in the first place the president and Steve Bannon--a slap in the face. Trump was humiliated and the GOP returned to its own unappealing bickering and moral abdication. In true fashion, Moore did not yet concede and it can be expected that everything will be considered to try discredit this win for Democrats. The arguments about a "rigged" system will flourish anew.  If Moore had won, the same system would have been commended as fair, of course.

However, the Trump machine will not be stopped, neither will his base be demobilized or chastened. The monster of creepy isolationism has been awakened and has to be fed. The White House will continue to serve it the red meat it  craves. The permanent unreal news cycle created by spin, allegation and weaponised contempt could even grow larger, under the baton of the Huns in Fox News, now the de facto war machine of this administration. 

Trump is dismantling the state under the name of deregulation.  Likewise, he is averse to support America's soft-power abroad, preferring military posture and creating a diplomatic vacuum wherein China and Russia are too happy to intrude. Foreign policy is mostly conducted for the sake of a bigoted electoral base which is, by the way, totally ignorant of the world as it is. The ruling home based priorities are rooted in a narrow agenda. The lies benefit the chosen conservatives while penalizing the more enlightened majority others, who veer between despair and revolt.

Democrats should reconsider their strategy--starting by reviewing their leadership--and pay more attention to the urgency of a contemporary agenda rather than to the survival of bygone models.  They can leave the "coal" to the Republicans and go for R/D, climate, health care, renewable energy, new technologies, inclusion.  It has become clear that, in the short term, all efforts to convince the Evangelicals & Co. are doomed. Better to skip the missionary work and come together around a blueprint for the future.

Trump will nevertheless continue to get a blank check from the GOP and to set a bad example of how to abuse and misrule. Republican senators might actually be relieved at not having the toxic Alabama Moses in their midst.  Politics in Trump's America "smell to heaven".