Opinion: Trump loses, bigotry wins

Alabama out-Trumps Trump View in [Browser]( | Add nytdirect@nytimes.com to your address book. [The New York Times]( [The New York Times]( Wednesday, September 27, 2017 [NYTimes.com/Opinion »]( [David Leonhardt] David Leonhardt Op-Ed Columnist Alabama: President Trump traveled to Alabama on Friday to implore Republicans there to vote for incumbent Senator Luther Strange in last night’s primary. They didn’t listen to the president. Roy Moore, a proud bigot, won instead. If you think I’m being too harsh in describing him that way, [read his own words](. He has argued that homosexuality should be illegal, Muslims should be barred from serving in Congress, 9/11 may have been divine retribution and Barack Obama wasn’t born here. Moore is even Trumpier than Trump. He is also likely to become Alabama’s next United States senator. Democratic wins: Meanwhile, the Democrats got good news in Florida, flipping a Republican seat in the State Senate. They also won a New Hampshire State House seat in a district Trump won handily last year. As I’ve mentioned before, the special election results since Trump’s inauguration have been [excellent]( for Democrats. Yesterday’s winner in Florida, Annette Taddeo, was a victim of Russian dirty tricks in the 2016 campaign and [told her story]( to my colleague Michael Barbaro in a podcast last year. Devastation: It is home to 3.4 million American citizens, more than Iowa or Nevada and more than Alaska, Vermont and the Dakotas combined. It is Puerto Rico, and the situation there is desperate. Hundreds of thousands of people lack electricity and drinking water, as a result of damage from Hurricane Maria. So far, President Trump and Congress have shown no urgency about the crisis. That’s in stark contrast with their reaction to other recent storms to hit the United States, Phillip Carter [argues]( in Slate. After Harvey and Irma, “tens of thousands of troops, first responders, and government officials snapped into immediate action, with direct attention by the president and his top aides.” But when Maria devastates “two offshore American territories,” Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, “the response pales.” Three catastrophic — and catastrophically expensive — storms in a row prove that the federal government’s “current model for natural-disaster preparation is deeply flawed,” [argues]( The New Republic’s Emily Atkin. As climate change worsens the impacts of severe weather, “the biggest short-term mistake Congress could make would be to delay approval of necessary funding,” she writes. “But the biggest long-term mistake would be to consider this year a fluke.” Ducking the issue: I was disappointed by Senator Lisa Murkowski’s refusal to take a stand on the Graham-Cassidy health care bill, despite the damage it would do to Alaska, her state. (You can see the details in [a new independent analysis]( The good news is that Graham-Cassidy still failed, with Republican leaders deciding not to bring it up for a vote this week. The bad news is those same leaders are already thinking about drafting a new bill that would take insurance from millions of people, including the residents of Alaska: “GOP already eyeing next chance to revive Obamacare repeal,” [Politico reports](. That’s why the opposition to Trumpcare must go on, as I argued in my [column]( yesterday. Any volunteers? The surprise retirement of Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee continues the wave of early Republican congressional retirements. And those retirements will be a big help to Democrats in 2018: Open seats are much easier to win than incumbents’ seats. Like the Alabama Senate primary, the G.O.P.’s battle to replace Corker will likely yield “a competitive primary that pits more establishment Republicans against candidates who identify with the Trump brand of Republicanism,” [writes]( the Cook Political Report’s Jennifer Duffy. “The possibility that Republicans could hold a brutal primary that may produce a less than ideal nominee provides more incentive” for Democrats to field a strong candidate. The most imposing possible Democratic candidate is Phil Bredesen, the 73-year-old former two-term governor. James Mackler, a 44-year-old attorney, has already entered the race. But it will be a tough race for any Democrat. The Republicans have won the last two presidential contests there by more than 20 percentage points and the last four by at least 14 points. After Corker’s announcement, the Cook Political Report [changed its rating]( for the race from “Solid Republican” to “Likely Republican.” Politically, the state is no longer the same place that sent both Al Gore Sr. and Al Gore Jr. to the Senate. In The Times: Eric Reid, the San Francisco 49ers player who explained why he knelt during the national anthem in a recent [op-ed]( spoke with The Times’s Jennifer Parker in a Facebook Live video yesterday. You can watch it [here](. The full Opinion report from The Times follows, including Thomas Abt on [violent crime](. Op-Ed Columnist [The Lecture That Donald Trump Needs]( By FRANK BRUNI Jeff Sessions schooled college students on free speech. His most important pupil is the president. Op-Ed Columnist [Trump’s Empty Culture Wars]( By ROSS DOUTHAT Many cultural controversies are well worth fighting over. The president is a virtuoso of the other kind. Op-Ed Columnist [Folks, We’re Home Alone]( By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN We need to adapt to succeed, and this president isn’t helping. Editorial [How Gun Controls Work Beyond Washington]( By THE EDITORIAL BOARD California legislators bucked the N.R.A. Now condors soar freely. Congress should show that courage, too. ADVERTISEMENT Op-Ed Contributor [How Not to Respond to the Rising Murder Rate]( By THOMAS P. ABT We need solutions to violent crime, but all we hear are slogans. Op-Ed Contributor [Memories of an Anti-Semitic State Department]( By DENNIS B. ROSS An offensive tweet from last week brings back memories of earlier days in my career in the national security establishment. Caroline Gamon [Op-Ed Contributor]( [How Big Banks Became Our Masters]( By RANA FOROOHAR Lending to consumers or small companies is no longer a core business for large banks. Mainly they are trading assets that enrich the rich. Editorial [A Corruption Case Worth Repeating]( By THE EDITORIAL BOARD Cleaning up Albany was never going to be easy, and now prosecutors will need to retry Dean Skelos. Editorial [Kurdistan’s Dangerous Vote on Independence]( By THE EDITORIAL BOARD Its yearnings are understandable, but in such an unstable region, breaking away from Iraq would lead to further violence. Op-Ed Contributor [How Turkey’s Refugee Response Is Different]( By RULA JEBREAL Elsewhere, the millions of Syrians who have fled civil war face humiliating conditions and little respite. Disability [Playing the Online Dating Game, on Wheels]( By EMILY LADAU Being upfront about my disability on Tinder and other dating sites has liberated me. Op-Ed Contributor [How to Defuse the Iraqi Kurdish Crisis]( By SAJAD JIYAD The government in Baghdad has to walk a careful line to keep the tensions between the federal and regional governments from escalating. Op-Ed Contributor [The More We Connect, the Better It Gets — for Facebook]( By ELLERY ROBERTS BIDDLE Is it really better to have restricted internet access than none at all? Op-Ed Contributor [N.Y.U. in Abu Dhabi: A Sectarian Bargain]( By MOHAMAD BAZZI It’s usually easy for American citizens to get a work visa for the U.A.E. Why was I denied? HOW ARE WE DOING? We’d love your feedback on this newsletter. Please email thoughts and suggestions to [opinionnewsletter@nytimes.com](mailto:opinionnewsletter@nytimes.com?subject=Opinion%20Today%20Newsletter%20Feedback). ADVERTISEMENT On the Ground | Nicholas Kristof [Call a Lynching By Its Name]( By SINDISO MNISI WEEKS AND DAN WEEKS As parents of biracial kids, we shudder to say the word. But we have to. Letters [Trading Insults and Threats With North Korea]( Readers are fearful of the consequences when the leaders of two nuclear powers taunt each other. Letters [End of the Line for the Latest Republican Health Bill]( One reader praises the G.O.P. senators who refuse to back the health care bill, while another predicts that the Republicans won’t give up. SIGN UP FOR THE VIETNAM ’67 NEWSLETTER Examining America’s long war in Southeast Asia [through the course]( of a single year. FOLLOW OPINION [Facebook] [FACEBOOK]( [Twitter] [@nytopinion]( [Pinterest] [Pinterest]( Get more [NYTimes.com newsletters »](  | Get unlimited access to NYTimes.com and our NYTimes apps for just $0.99. [Subscribe »]( ABOUT THIS EMAIL You received this message because you signed up for NYTimes.com's Opinion Today newsletter. [Unsubscribe]( | [Manage Subscriptions]( | [Change Your Email]( | [Privacy Policy]( | [Contact]( | [Advertise]( Copyright 2017 The New York Times Company 620 Eighth Avenue New York, NY 10018