Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore is gearing up for next week’s Alabama primary runoff against Luther Strange, and gave a … well, a provocative speech at a campaign event on Sunday. In the clip above, Moore can be heard woefully describing the divisions that currently exist in the United States, likening it to tensions during the Civil War. While back then, there was fighting between the North and the South, Moore said, “Now we got blacks and whites fighting, reds and yellows fighting, Democrats and Republicans fighting, men and women fighting.”
Way to bury that in there, Roy. “Reds and yellows?” The comment didn’t come off as hateful, so much as ironically unfortunate and out of touch during an otherwise sincere call for unity. Of course, those on the left who are able to take that part in stride may have had a little more trouble with what came later. Moore, the former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Alabama, went on to explore a deeply religious theme, saying that it won’t be Congress or a President who will unite us, but God. According to Facebook, the event was held at Shoals Christian School.
Continuing with the Civil War, he talked about how the Battle of Gettysburg was “the worst loss of life in the history of our country.” He discussed the notion of whether the tragedies of the war were divine punishment for the American people not recognizing their sins and engaging in “national reformation” (during the Civil War, the National Reform Association pushed to amend the Constitution to include Christian language). So too, Moore pondered whether current “calamity” including “abortion, and sodomy, and perverse sexual behavior” may be punishment for not undergoing national reformation as one people as a Christian nation.
In the past, Moore has spoken similarly about September 11, saying that it may have been punishment for the country abandoning religious virtues.
Of course, being a Republican primary, Democratic voters won’t be choosing between Moore and Strange. The winner of the runoff will face Democrat Doug Jones in December, with the victor taking the seat left vacant by Jeff Sessions when he became Attorney General.
[Image via screengrab]
This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.
