Rep. Mo Brooks just had a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad week.
The far-right congressman from Alabama is best known nationally for his role as a leading insurrectionist on January 6. But rather than get attention for that -- Brooks’ new campaign ad promotes his speech before the riot --- he saw his campaign to succeed retiring Sen. Richard Shelby take a series of body blows.
Here are some of them:
- Former President Donald Trump told the conservative Washington Examiner Tuesday that he “is unhappy with Rep. Mo Brooks, the Republican he endorsed for Senate in Alabama, and is mulling a switch to primary rivals Katie Britt or Mike Durant,” the paper reported
- Politico reported Friday that “Mo Brooks is reeling and Alabama’s Senate GOP primary is descending into chaos.” The report said Shelby plans to direct $6 million from his huge campaign account to that of Katie Britt, his former chief of staff and one of Brooks top primary foes.
- News outlets across Alabama reported on a new Republican poll showing Brooks receiving just 17.6% support in the primary -- far behind businessman Mike Durant (33.8% and Britt (32.0%). The accuracy of the poll, which is unknown, may matter less than the fact that it was widely covered. It was commissioned by ForestPAC, the political arm of the Alabama Forestry Association.
- Retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, who has endorsed Durant, continued attacking Brooks Friday on a conservative Alabama radio program: “When I heard Mo Brooks talk about that we have to get past the 2020 election, when he made that comment, I think it was at a rally that Donald Trump had in Alabama, actually, when I heard him make that comment. I was infuriated.”
Perhaps overlooked in the firestorms around Brooks is this detail: Neither Durant nor Britt figures to be anything other than a Trump sycophant. Durant’s central message to set himself apart from his opponents is that, like Trump, he “is not a career politician.” And here’s how he genuflected in his campaign’s first TV ad:
““President Trump did so much right. He took on China, cut taxes and strengthened our military,” proclaims Durant. “And Joe Biden? I’m disappointed from the moment he gets up in the morning — vaccine mandates, paying people not to work, a pathetic exit from Afghanistan.”
Britt has also tried to position herself as a loyal guardian of Trump’s legacy, such that it is. In January, when Brooks was attacking a federal court ruling as “racist and unconstitutional” for suggesting that federal voting law applies to Alabama, Brooks said this:
“It’s a bad day for Alabama when liberal, activist federal judges discard a Congressional district map drawn by Alabama’s elected legislators.”
But Britt made him pay for that clumsy attempt to toss out red meat. Noting that the judges scorched by Brooks included some appointed by Trump, Britt’s campaign blared out the following:
“Katie Britt slams Mo Brooks for ‘embarrassing lie that President Trump would appoint liberal activists to the federal bench,’” it stated.
The Alabama primaries will be held May 24. If no candidate receives more than 50 percent of the vote, a runoff election will be held between the top two finishers on June 22.
Once assumed to be the comfortable frontrunner, Brooks faces a struggle to make the runoff. He might have peaked in far-right Republican circles on January 6 when he stood on the Trump rally speech and uttered some of the most inflammatory rhetoric of the day:
“Today is the day American patriots start taking down names and kicking ass,” Brooks said. “Now, our ancestors sacrificed their blood, their sweat, their tears, their fortunes and sometimes their lives … Are you willing to do the same? My answer is yes. Louder! Are you willing to do what it takes to fight for America?”
The larger question in Alabama is whether Republicans are willing to do what it takes to fight for Mo Brooks. And as Raw Story reported this week, it might not even save Brooks if Trump does stick with him.