Regular readers of Breitbart News were aware that Judge Roy Moore’s Senate candidacy in Alabama had become a major priority of the fiery site over the last couple of weeks. And its chairman, Stephen Bannon, became very personally involved, as reflected by his leading role in Judge Roy’s final rally on Election Eve:
Monday night in the Mobile Bay town of Fairhope, the stars of the Breitbart universe assembled for Moore’s closing rally ahead of Tuesday’s Senate special primary to fill Attorney General Jeff Sessions’s old seat … there was Steve Bannon, Nigel Farage, Phil Robertson, Chris McDaniel, Paul Nehlen.
Chris McDaniel was the man who nearly knocked off GOP Senator Thad Cochran in a 2014 primary in Mississippi, and is set to challenge Senator Roger Wicker next year. Paul Nehlen is a once-and-future primary challenger to Paul Ryan. Both represent Bannon/Breitbart political investments.
When Roy Moore got to the podium (and before he brandished a gun), the famous Ayatollah of Alabama gave Bannon a shout-out as “an outstanding man” who had done more than anyone else to encourage the judge in his campaign.
So once the returns came in and Moore handily dispatched the appointed incumbent Luther Strange, Breitbart News was not at all bashful about taking credit and threatening more primary challenges. “MOORE WIN MAKES STEVE BANNON, BREITBART NEWS TAKE CENTER STAGE” shouted the headline above a half-gloating, half-menacing story from Breitbart’s senior editor-at-large Joel Pollak.
It didn’t take Pollak long to make the Alabama results all about the mythical power of his employer:
The Beltway GOP feared that a win for Moore would mean that Breitbart News executive chairman Steve Bannon could make good on his threats to support primary challenges to incumbents who had been insufficiently supportive of President Donald Trump’s agenda. As if on cue, Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) announced his retirement — hours before polls closed in Alabama.
That’s right: We are led to believe, without any specific evidence, that Bannon engineered Corker’s resignation as an omen that RINOs everywhere are heading for the exits, driven by the righteous fury of Breitbart News. But the site’s ambitions are even higher than service as GOP ideological commissars:
[W]hat Bannon showed on Tuesday was that Trump’s agenda transcends elections. He and the other leading Trump supporters who came out for Moore stressed that they wanted to help the president, not to hurt him. But they have also sent Trump a signal that he dare not reverse course on the promises he made in 2016 on issues like immigration, trade, taxes, Obamacare, climate, and the border wall.
Trump dare not break his promises, you see, or Steve Bannon will come after him like a honey badger.
This chest-beating account ignores the 100 percent name ID and a fearsome ideological reputation Roy Moore built up over decades of religion-political agitation, and the vast network of Christian-right backers the judge had before Bannon and Breitbart lurched into the Senate race. But whatever — the Breitbartians are full of themselves, and not in the mood to share credit:
And so Bannon, and Breitbart, are no longer just the most hated names inside the Beltway. Now, they are also the most feared. And that means the political movement that elected Trump in 2016 will have a louder voice than ever.
Protect your ears, America.
