Republicans love to invoke Star Wars. Dick Cheney famously compared himself to Darth Vader after 9/11 and now an adviser to Alabama former judge Roy Moore, Brett Doster, characterizes the upcoming Republican primary between Luther Strange, who was appointed to take Jeff Sessions’ vacated seat and challenger Roy Moore in the upcoming primary thusly: “This is a fight between Luke Skywalker and the Death Star.” Moore evidently sees himself as destiny’s child set to unseat the forces of incumbent Republican evil. What’s noteworthy is that in this instance Steve Bannon agrees with him, and is bringing all the forces of Breitbart to bear on his behalf while Mitch McConnell palpitates, and Donald Trump is flying to “Big Luther’s” rescue next weekend. Politico:
Bannon is working overtime on Moore’s behalf. The Breitbart chief held a private meeting with the former judge on Capitol Hill last week and is encouraging conservative power brokers to get behind Moore. An outside group that Bannon is aligned with, Great America Alliance, has begun advertising on Moore’s behalf. The group is also expected to host a pro-Moore rally headlined by former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.
“The establishment should be worried,” said Andrew Surabian, who worked for Bannon in the White House and is a senior adviser to Great America Alliance. “Republican voters rejected all of their preferred candidates in the 2016 presidential primary, they’re in the midst of rejecting their golden boy in Alabama and I’m confident they will reject their never-Trump stalking horses running in 2018.”
The September 26th runoff is being touted as a key battle in the Republican Civil War which Steve Bannon is waging against Mitch McConnell:
Steve Bannon, Trump’s bomb-throwing former chief strategist is launching an all-out war against Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and the Republican establishment. Bannon has begun holding private meetings with insurgent challengers, vowing his support. He’s coordinating with conservative mega-donor Robert Mercer, who is prepared to pour millions of dollars into attacks on GOP incumbents. Bannon has also installed a confidant at an outside group that is expected to target Republican lawmakers and push the Trump agenda.
The activity has alarmed senior Republicans, who worry it will drain millions of dollars from the party’s coffers to take on Democrats in the general election. McConnell has repeatedly expressed concern to the White House about the danger primaries pose to his members, stressing that it could imperil his narrow four-seat majority, according to three people with direct knowledge of the discussions.
Let them have at it, by all means. Primary everybody. The Republicans have already made it known that Dean Heller’s and Jeff Flake’s heads are on the block, fine, decapitate the whole coop, it only makes them less able to get anything done. Don’t forget Paul Ryan’s heartwarming words to his flock back in January:
House Speaker Paul Ryan on Wednesday outlined a packed legislative agenda for this year in which Republicans would repeal and replace Obamacare by April, fund Donald Trump’s border wall shortly after that and approve a sweeping tax reform package by August.
Ryan and McConnell had it all figured out back in January. Now they’re busy trying to figure out how to stay in office.