I wonder if the Alabama senate debacle is the beginning of the end for virtue-signalers like David French, Russell Moore et al., when many libertarians/conservatives feel they were cheated out of that senate seat by a fifth column from French/Russ Moore purists.
Roy Moore lost by a fraction, so it didn't take much to tip the scales. It's one thing when the rhetoric of French/Russ Moore is just talk, but this time it was costly. We'll see about the recriminations.
NRO is financially vulnerable due to the lawsuit, which is why they cut ties with Mark Steyn, despite his popularity. Likewise when they fired Derb. More recently, they alienated Trump voters. (I'm not commenting on the merits of the NRO position.)
By the same token, SBC organizations are ultimately funded from the bottom up. So players like Russell Moore and Albert Mohler could be hurt if there's a revolt by the donor base. They weathered that challenge once before, but this may galvanize opposition. Time will tell.
From a marketing perspective, this was, of course, "all about Trump". The Democrats desperately want to defeat him in the 2018 congressional elections, first of all, and if they can't win congress, definitely in 2020. For Trump, a marketer and salesman at heart, this was nothing but a test, and he will, I'm sure, learn from it, and adjust his messaging. That's what direct marketing -- the purest form of marketing is all about these days: test small, and then go to market with the winning strategy.
ReplyDeleteI have a prediction. I predict that this is the last that anyone will hear of the women accusing Moore of sexual misconduct. Just like with Herman Cain who was accused of sexual misconduct in 2011 and once he dropped out, suddenly crickets everywhere.
ReplyDeleteThe bottom line is, either the women were telling the truth or lying. If they were telling the truth, they're about to get kicked to the curb since they're not useful to the Democrats anymore. And if they were lying, the cases are going to quietly disappear as they're dropped, and nothing else will come from them given that Moore is a public figure and thus cannot expect to win a defamation lawsuit.