It is no secret that former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore’s announcement that he was running for U.S. Senate in 2020 was not well received by many Republicans in not just Alabama, but throughout the country. Among those that have made public remarks rejecting Moore’s candidacy are President Donald Trump and Alabama’s own Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Tuscaloosa).
Moore has downplayed those and other remarks, and has said it was out of “fear.”
During an appearance on Friday’s broadcast of Alabama Public Television’s “Capitol Journal,” host Don Dailey asked Moore about Republican opposition and included the National Republican Senatorial Committee “official stance” on his candidacy, which is “ABRM: anyone but Roy Moore.”
“It’s not what I feel,” he said. “That’s what is reported by the spokesperson for the NRSC. I think it’s Josh Hunt – I may have the name wrong – spoke to the president about this. This goes back to what Senator Shelby did in the general election. They now want to say I can’t beat Doug Jones in the general election. And actually, the Republican establishment and Shelby, in particular, got involved in the general election by telling people not to vote. So they’re trying to have their cake and eat it, too.”
“He told people not to vote for me,” Moore added. “And I lost by 21,000 votes, which was less than 2%. He influenced that many people. That many people didn’t vote for me and wrote in other people with other names. And so, it’s kind of a hypocritical stand they’re taking. But the overall issue that I would see is the people of Alabama have the right to elect their senator, and they should not be influenced by Washington, D.C. They need to mind their own business.”
As for Trump’s remarks on the former Etowah County circuit court judge, Moore said he thought Trump’s “influenced.”
“I think he was influenced,” Moore said. “I support a lot of his programs – stopping illegals from coming across the border, rebalancing trade, getting rid of NAFTA, CAFTA and things like that. But I don’t know why he has said that. I mean, he supported me in the general last time, didn’t support me in the primary last time. But there was a Republican establishment candidate, as you well know, that I beat. And it angered certain of the Republican senators, and this is their response. One of them is Richard Shelby.”
Moore indicated he expected to be the nominee and anticipated Shelby’s reaction.
“It’s going to be interesting to see what Richard Shelby does when I win the primary,” Moore added. “That will be very interesting.”
Moore also speculated that his chances of winning were the motivation of some opposition.
“Why would they be opposing me so strongly if they thought I would lose?” he said. “They’re opposing me because they know I have a strong base and I got a very likelihood of winning.”
@Jeff_Poor is a graduate of Auburn University, the editor of Breitbart TV and host of “The Jeff Poor Show” from 2-5 p.m. on WVNN in Huntsville.
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