The controversial topic in the Alabama Election is a heavily-debated one. From the beginning of the election, Roy S. Moore seemed to clearly have the upper hand since he is a Republican and Birmingham is a highly conservative city. However, Moore’s democratic opponent, Mr. Doug Jones accused Moore of sexually abusing a 14 year old girl, quickly turning the situation around and putting Moore at a disadvantage. Although there is no evidence to confirm that the allegations are, in fact, true, the accusation aroused public discussion. Seeing Moore in distress, “President Trump, who broke with much of his party and fully embraced Mr. Moore’s candidacy, [sought] to rally support for him in the closing days of the campaign.”

Despite the Republican ideals of Birmingham and the great efforts of the currently most powerful man in the United States, Mr. Jones eventually won by a mere 1.5% of the votes. The results came in with “jubilation for Democrats, who embraced an unlikely hero in a state they never thought they could win.” On the other hand, the results, which demonstrated that a simple sex scandal can bring a Republican down in an election, came with disappointment on the conservative side.

One would expect that support from a powerful man like Donald Trump who uses Twitter as an efficient and convenient medium of communication would almost definitely lead to the victory of the Republicans; however, the true winner of the election proved otherwise. Although Trump may have tried his best to save Moore from Moore’s political demise, “the President could not pull a badly flawed candidate across the line, in one of the most conservative, pro-Trump states in the country, that has often appeared to have a special place in the President’s heart,” demonstrating his extreme inability to support others in need despite how desperately he wants to help. Although Trump experienced tremendous loss from the election, it is well known that Trump “is a resilient political figure with an unusually loyal political base.” The election was a loss to the Republicans and Trump, but the situation was grim for Moore which justifies the loss and that Trump did not put a large amount of effort to the campaign.

<Leo Yu Portola HS 10th Grade>