Alabama is the perfect petri dish of Bannonism and the nationalist-populist anti-elitist movement for which Trump is its grunting avatar. All the hot, magical, base-moving issues were there, and Moore embraced Esoteric Trumpism with the same vigor he pursued his victims through local malls. Trump bellowed his support in tweets, rallies, and interviews.

Moore and Trump made immigration, the wall, abortion, and gun control scares versus Jones their daily message. Last night Alabama proved that even with the full support of Steve Bannon, Donald Trump, and their media infrastructure, certain dogs aren’t ever going to hunt. It didn’t look that way at first. It was, after all, Alabama.