Senator no friend of McConnell’s, Trump says
ELECTIONS
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — President Donald Trump implored his supporters Friday to get behind an establishment-backed incumbent in a Republican runoff race in Alabama, arguing that Sen. Luther Strange will “drain the swamp” and doesn’t know the Senate majority leader “at all.”
At a raucous rally in Huntsville, Alabama, the president insisted to thousands of cheering fans that backing Strange — who was appointed in February to temporarily fill the seat that opened up when Jeff Sessions became attorney general — would help further the Trump agenda.
“Since the day Big Luther arrived in the United States Senate, Luther has always been for us,” Trump said.
Despite Trump’s endorsement and heavy spending by a super-PAC tied to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Strange remains locked in a tight race against former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore, a jurist known for opposing gay marriage and pushing unsuccessfully for the public display of the Ten Commandments.
Trump said Strange had wrongly been branded an establishment insider, saying people have unfairly claimed Strange is “friendly with Mitch.” Trump called that a “bum rap.”
He also praised Strange for agreeing to back Republican healthcare legislation with no strings attached, saying, “That’s the coolest thing that’s happened to me in six months.”
Moore is favored by many of Trump’s supporters and allies, including former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.
Moore also appears to have the support of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson — though a confidant insisted his praise wasn’t an endorsement.
Trump’s freewheeling speech also delved into his White House agenda, as well as many of his campaign themes.
He lashed out at North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, calling him a “madman” again. He criticized Sen. John McCain for opposing Republican efforts to repeal and replace former President Barack Obama’s health-care law. He discussed his long-promised border wall, called allegations of Russian election meddling a “hoax” and relived his 2016 general election victory at length.