© Andrew Harnik/AP Photo
Robert Mueller
If there was any single event that would cause the Republican elite to openly revolt against the ongoing Trumpification of their party, it would be the nomination of Roy Moore for U.S. Senate in Alabama. Even prior to the allegations of child molestation, Moore had discovered innovative new realms of extremism that had never occurred to even his most ideologically fervent colleagues. He proposed banning Muslims from serving in elected office, called for the criminalization of homosexuality, and defied court rulings and declared his own biblical jurisprudence the sole valid legal authority.
And if that revolt was going to begin anywhere, it would likely be in Utah. The state's Mormon culture recoiled from Donald Trump's libidinous boasting, erratic behavior, and displays of extravagant consumption.
Between the 2012 and 2016 elections, Utah's Republican presidential margin underwent an astonishing 28 percent collapse.
Orrin Hatch, who has represented Utah in the Senate since 1977, greeted Moore's candidacy in this year's election with skepticism. ("I have trouble with" Moore's comments on gays and Muslims, he said in October.) Once evidence surfaced of Moore's alleged predation of teenage girls, Hatch pulled the rip cord. "If the deeply disturbing allegations in the
Washington Post are true, Senator Hatch believes that Judge Moore should step aside immediately," his spokesman declared.
Comment: