September 6, 2019--Alabama On My Mind

What's with Alabama? 

Why is Trump showing a map of hurricane Dorian's path that includes not only Florida and the Carolinas but also Alabama? I wonder since the path is not projected to pass anywhere close to the Heart of Dixie State.

To understand why, go back to the 2017 special Senate election that was won by Doug Jones. Remarkably, a Democrat in very red state Alabama who defeated Ray Moore who was best known as a pedophile with a passion for teenage girls and who declared that Alabama "was great during slavery." 

Moore lost by only 21,924 votes and so he is trying again, running in 2020 in opposition to the now-incumbent Jones.

In a Senate up for grabs--the Dems have to flip just three or four seats to take control of the Upper Chamber--and therefore from a Republican perspective it would be good to be able to turn a state or two from Democratic to Republican. One such state potentially is Alabama.

The contest then in Alabama is important: it is one of only two states (the other is Michigan) where Democrats are the incumbents but were carried in 2016 by Trump. They are thus considered possibly flippable to the Republicans.

It is thus my view that Trump is showing Alabama threatened by Dorian as evidence of how he and the Republicans are standing ready to help Alabama deal with the storm and its aftermath.

I assume that after the storm turns to the North Atlantic Ocean, Trump will travel to the states affected, including one he claims was but wasn't, for some visuals of him showing concern and, as in Puerto Rico, tossing rolls of paper towels to the newly homeless. 

One more thing--it is a federal crime for government officials to alter an official weather map. Really.