Alleged pedophile once endorsed by Trump jumps into Alabama Senate race

Roy Moore, the alleged pedophile strongly endorsed by Trump in 2017, is trying once again to represent Alabama in the U.S. Senate. Moore tossed his hat in the ring Thursday afternoon, joining a crowded field looking to take on Sen. Doug Jones (D-AL).

“Yes, I will run for the United States Senate in 2020,” Moore said at a press conference. “Can I win? Yes, I can win,” he added.

Moore lost a 2017 special election to replace Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), a longtime racist Trump selected to be his first attorney general. Moore’s candidacy was rocked by allegations that Moore, when he was 32, groped a 14-year-old he was dating at the time.

After their second date, Moore removed some of her clothes, groped her, and placed her hand on his underwear.

“I wanted it over with — I wanted out,” Leigh Corfman told the Washington Post about the encounter. “Please just get this over with. Whatever this is, just get it over.”

At the press conference announcing his run, Moore was asked what he would do differently this time compared to 2017.

“I would like to make more personal contact with people,” was Moore’s tone-deaf reply. Moore is apparently out of touch with the fact that “personal contact” was an issue most folks had with him the last time around.

After this allegation surfaced, which was corroborated by others, Moore retained the support of the national Republican Party, Alabama’s Republican Party, and Trump’s full, unqualified endorsement.

Trump has continued to speak glowingly about Moore, saying as recently as May that he has “nothing against” the alleged pedophile.

In addition to his alleged preference for underage girls, Moore has a slew of additional problematic views.

Moore has a long history of making bigoted statements about Muslims and LGBT Americans, and he was kicked off Alabama’s Supreme Court twice: once for refusing to recognize the First Amendment’s separation of church and state, and another time for defying the United States Supreme Court’s ruling on marriage equality.

Republicans embraced Moore in the past, but some in the party have discouraged him from running again.

If he emerges victorious in the Republican primary, Republicans will once again be forced with the moral quandary of whether or not to embrace an alleged child molester… for a second time.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.