Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

EDITORIAL:

In standing for decency, Alabama sends message to GOP

Doug Jones’ victory in Alabama’s Senate race last week was a much-needed win for decency in what has been a profoundly indecent year.

In voting for Jones over Roy Moore, Alabamians didn’t simply choose a Democrat over a Republican. They selected a candidate of principle and honor over a man who had referred to Native Americans and Asians as “reds and yellows,” had suggested eliminating all constitutional amendments after the 10th — which would have included those abolishing slavery and giving women the right to vote — had twice been removed from the Alabama Supreme Court for flouting the law. Not to mention several recent accusations of pedophilia.

So it was refreshing to see the outcome of the vote in Alabama, which previously hadn’t elected a Democratic senator since 1992.

Thank you, Alabama, for showing that decent people still win in America. You delivered that much-needed message to the nation and the world.

That said, let’s not go overboard celebrating the vote.

Remember, Jones barely won, garnering 49.92 percent of the vote to Moore’s 48.38 percent.

That means nearly half of Alabama’s voters, including many who would identify themselves as values voters and evangelicals, supported a candidate who does not deserve to hold any public office. They prioritized party politics over ideals, morality and character, and as a result the GOP nationwide finds itself at a critical juncture.

Republican moderates and conservatives with principles have been on the run for two years as Donald Trump has rampaged through the party, found cowards in the GOP to enable him and defiled honorable traditions. After Alabama, though, reasonable Republicans have hope of fighting Trump: They can prove his venal vandalism will destroy the party.

The Alabama vote showed that there’s no future for Republicans on their current trajectory. Minority voters turned out in huge numbers and overwhelmingly supported Jones — he carried 96 percent of the vote among blacks, who made up 29 percent of all voters. Voters identifying themselves as moderates also swung heavily to Jones, supporting him 3-to-1 over Moore.

The Moore/Trump core, in other words, consisted mostly of white, older voters in rural areas. Even in deep-red Alabama, there weren’t enough of them to push Moore into the Senate.

The vote should show moderates that embracing the Trump/Bannon far-right jihadists who have infected their party is suicide.

Trump and Bannon campaigned heavily for Moore, although Trump — true to his egomaniacal form — immediately tried to extricate himself by contending he knew Moore had no chance.

Too late. Trump was all-in, and voters knew it. But Republicans in large numbers rejected Moore, anyway, and no doubt Trump’s involvement helped drive Democrats to the polls, too.

The outcome, coupled with results of state elections in November that generally went well for Democrats, prompted speculation that the GOP may get swamped by a blue wave in the 2018 midterms.

And why not? The divisive rhetoric and cruel policies coming from Trump and current congressional Republican leadership may have damaged the brand beyond repair.

But if moderates want to save the party, they need to elect candidates with moderate stances on immigration, gun control, health care and other issues that have deeply divided Americans. They must put forth candidates who are willing to work constructively and respect the legislative process, as opposed to the current leadership that has jammed through reckless tax policy that will disadvantage middle- and lower-income Americans for the benefit of corporations and the extremely wealthy.

As the Alabama vote showed, those with an appetite for Trump’s scorched-earth politics are in the minority.

The GOP needs to either accept that reality and reform itself, or stay on a course that will lead to irrelevance and then extinction.