White House Watch: Heads Roy Moore Wins, Tails the GOP Loses

The result will almost certainly be something in between those two possibilities (or outside them, even) but no matter who wins Tuesday, the special election has further fractured the Grand Old Party. My colleagues Alice Lloyd and Andrew Egger spoke with multiple members of the Republican National Committee who are split on the RNC’s decision to re-enter the race with funds to support Moore. The National Republican Senatorial Committee and its chairman, Colorado senator Cory Gardner, have remained firmly opposed to Moore’s campaign. Nearly every Republican senator, including and especially Alabama’s Richard Shelby, is opposed to Moore.

But President Donald Trump, who has semi-rallied for Moore and cut an eleventh-hour robocall for him, sits atop the GOP. His decision to wait for weeks after the Washington Post’s bombshell outlining the allegations against Moore before re-committing himself to the Republican candidate underscores the party’s big divide. That’s because the Republican faithful, along with much of the party infrastructure, are with Trump and have adopted the president’s “winning above all” mindset. Trump’s full embrace of Moore has only extended and intensified the intra-party war.

If Moore wins, that opens a new set of problems for Republicans, who will be haunted by the junior senator from Alabama throughout the 2018 midterm cycle. If Moore loses, it will be viewed on the Trump side of the party as thanks in part to a betrayal by those in the GOP who abandoned their candidate at the first sign of pedophilia. Make no mistake: Nothing will be resolved after the polls close Tuesday evening.

Quote of the Day—This comes from former White House adviser Steve Bannon, at an election eve rally in Alabama on Monday: “There’s a special place in hell for Republicans who should know better.” That’s a thinly veiled reference to Ivanka Trump, who used the same “special place in hell” formulation to refer to “people who prey on children” in a statement on the allegations against Roy Moore.

Things That Make You Go “Hmmm . . .”—From the Associated Press, on United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley’s comments this weekend that women accusing President Trump of sexual assault deserve to be heard: “Haley’s comments infuriated the president, according to two people who are familiar with his views but who spoke on condition of anonymity because they aren’t authorized to speak publicly about private conversations.”

President Trump again called for tighter immigration controls Monday after a Bangladeshi immigrant tried to carry out a suicide bombing on a New York subway, injuring four.

“As I have been saying since I first announced my candidacy for president, America must fix its lax immigration system, which allows far too many dangerous, inadequately vetted people to access our country,” Trump said in a statement. “Today’s terror suspect entered our country through extended-family chain migration, which is incompatible with national security.”

The suspect, 27-year-old Akayed Ullah, immigrated to the United States in 2011. He told police that he had learned how to assemble a pipe bomb through online videos and attempted to detonate it near a Christmas display as an act of revenge for the deaths of Muslims around the world.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Monday afternoon that Ullah would not have been allowed to immigrate to the United States if the president’s policies had been in place then. “That’s why the president has pushed for not one part of immigration policy, but a responsible and total immigration reform,” she said.

Moving from a family-based immigration system to a skills-based one, an idea Republican senators Tom Cotton and David Perdue advanced this year, has in recent months become a centerpiece of the White House’s immigration agenda. Congress may tackle the issue of immigration reform early next year.

NASA Watch—On the 45th anniversary of the Apollo 17 moon landing, President Trump signed a memorandum calling for the United States to “lead the return of humans to the Moon.”

“We’re honored to be joined by Apollo astronaut Jack Schmitt,” Trump said at the Monday afternoon ceremony. “Exactly 45 years ago, almost to the minute, Jack became one of the last Americans to land on the moon. Today, we pledge that he will not be the last.”

Referencing America’s “pioneer spirit,” Trump said that the directive would “ensure America’s space program once again leads and inspires all of humanity.” And, he said, the Moon will not be the program’s final destination.

“This time, we will not only plant our flag and leave our footprint, we will establish a foundation for an eventual mission to Mars,” Trump said. “And perhaps, someday, to many worlds beyond.”

Photo of the Day

Is the latest in a spate of recent films about the British response to Hitler’s onslaught, circa 1940, one big metaphor? In this week’s issue, John Podhoretz makes a good case that Darkest Hour is less an absolutely faithful adaptation of Winston Churchill’s central role in that fateful era for Great Britain than an artistic representation of the national psychology. Either way, Gary Oldman’s performance as Churchill looks, from the trailer, to be worth the price of admission.

Depressing Read of the Day—The New York Times has a big report on the sexual harassment of female lobbyists in state capitals by skeevy local lawmakers.

Song of the Day—“Synchronicity II” by the Police

The Police – Synchronicity II (1983) from MTV The First Wave 1981 -1983 on Vimeo.