Breitbart Tells Us The Real Reason It Backed Roy Moore (TWEETS)



For most of the fall, the conventional wisdom in the political world was that Steve Bannon and Breitbart News saw the race for Jeff Sessions’ old Senate seat in Alabama as the first battle in a “Season of War” on the Republican establishment. Bannon wants to dump Mitch McConnell as Senate majority leader, and to that end initially set his sights on primarying as many Senate Republicans as possible.

It initially seemed that Moore’s candidacy gave Bannon an early opportunity to take out an “establishment” incumbent, so naturally he and Breitbart went all-in for him. But on Friday, the number-three man at Breitbart told us that there was a more fundamental reason why Breitbart went all-in for Moore–to protect Donald Trump.

On Friday’s edition of “Breitbart News Daily,” editor-in-chief Alex Marlow said that when The Washington Post reported that multiple women accused Moore of molesting them or pursuing them when they were teenagers, “there was no option at Breitbart” to back away from Moore. Why?

“If you set the standard that Roy Moore, who was accused of abusing five women, three of whom–or six women, three of whom were not actually accusing him of doing anything illegal, two of whom either had a massive conflict of interest or were entirely uncredible for putting out a forged yearbook, that left one accuser and it was a he said, she said. If you make that the standard, the left is going to use it to take out President Trump.”

Marlow went on to say that had Breitbart backed away from Moore, it would have given Trump’s foes on both sides of the aisle to push for his removal, or at the very least create “massive distractions” for the Donald. That, Marlow said, was why Breitbart and Bannon continued to support Moore even though they knew he was “a horrible candidate” and “a terrible candidate” who had only won his previous races in squeakers even though the Alabama Democratic Party Lest you think this is snark, Media Matters got a clip.


Well, this explains a few things. If you’ll remember, Breitbart rushed out with a preemptive attack on the accusers’ credibility before The Post’s story went live. In the campaign’s last month, it yelled to the heavens that the whole thing was fake news and a politically motivated hit job. Bannon adamantly insisted that the only people who had a right to render a verdict on this issue were the people of Alabama. One Breitbart editor went as far to say that even if Moore took an interest in teenage girls, it didn’t run counter to the “social mores” of north-central Alabama in the 1980s.

Marlow himself told Politico in November that the race between Moore and Doug Jones meant “more than just one race.” Well, now we know what it must have meant to Bannon and friends. Breitbart is so determined to keep the wolves away from Trump’s door that they are willing to prop up any schmuck willing to yell “MAGA!” We already knew Breitbart had no standards to speak of, but this is just staggering.

Not surprisingly, Twitter was not amused.

https://twitter.com/Kimbclay/status/941855691060449281

There’s another reason that this disclosure from Marlow is very telling. For the last year, Breitbart and other Trump diehards have insisted that any talk Trump engaged in sexual misconduct is fake news. That line has been picked up by most Trump loyalists, who see it as an attempt by the deep state to keep Trump from draining the swamp.


And yet, unless I heard wrong, Marlow has effectively told the right-wing choir that there may be something to those charges. After all, if they really are fake news, why does Trump need to be protected from them? Perhaps Marlow and Breitbart know that the walls are starting to close in.

(featured image courtesy Moore’s Facebook)

Darrell is a 30-something graduate of the University of North Carolina who considers himself a journalist of the old school. An attempt to turn him into a member of the religious right in college only succeeded in turning him into the religious right's worst nightmare--a charismatic Christian who is an unapologetic liberal. His desire to stand up for those who have been scared into silence only increased when he survived an abusive three-year marriage. You may know him on Daily Kos as Christian Dem in NC. Follow him on Twitter @DarrellLucus or connect with him on Facebook. Click here to buy Darrell a Mello Yello.