TEHRAN _ The Republican defeat in the state of Alabama has created a very difficult situation for US President Donald Trump and his entourage. Many American analysts now believe that the defeat of Trump and the Republicans in Alabama will be an introduction to defeating the Republicans in the House of Representatives and the Senate. Undoubtedly, in the future, the power of Trump will decrease in US political and executive equations.

An overview of Al Jazeera’s latest report shows that the defeat of Trump and the Republican Party in Alabama has been remarkable. As Aljazeera reported, Republican Judge Roy Moore, who had secured the backing of US President Donald Trump, lost the senate race in the conservative state of Alabama to his Democrat rival Doug Jones. Moore has been accused of rape and molesting a 14-year-old girl, and many believe these accusations cost him the election. But his was still a very narrow defeat, as the Republican candidate got very nearly half the vote.
The defeat of Moore is exciting at least because it shows that a Democrat can actually win an election. But it is also a matter for concern – if not despair – that his defeat only came over allegations of sexual misconduct.In September, prompted by his support for Donald Trump’s claim to make “America great again”, he was asked the obvious question: When did he think the country had been great?
Moore said, “I think it was great at the time when families were united – even though we had slavery – they cared for one another … Our families were strong, our country had a direction.” This is a kind of lunacy. How is it possible to say, “families were united” when slave owners could sell off a mother’s children? When they could separate husbands and wives? What does it mean to say that “families were strong,” when the infinite gradations of colour among African-Americans were being created by slave owners raping the women whom they owned. Their wives had to tolerate this, because men controlled all the property and money.
Roy is most famous for his putting up a massive monument to the 10 Commandments in the Alabama Supreme Court building as a statement that it is the basis for the US’s legal system. He is not alone in this. The late Justice Antonin Scalia said, “It’s a symbol of the fact that government comes – derives its authority from God.”
Yet if we actually compare the Ten Commandments to the first Ten Amendments, what’s striking is that the Constitution is a direct refutation of the ones that aren’t part of all standard legal systems, the rules against murder, theft, perjury, and adultery.
The First Commandment is “Thou shalt put no other God before me.” The First Amendment is that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.”
The second, “Thou shalt make no graven image and not take the name of the Lord they God in vain” is also opposed by First Amendment which says there shall be “no law abridging freedom of speech.” The Commandment to “honor they father and mother,” likewise comes up against the guarantee of free speech.
“Thou shalt not covet,” would make thoughts into crimes. The Bill of Rights call for adherence to “the rules of common law,” which require actus reus, an act, for something to be a crime.
In the end, Roy Moore lost the election. But his narrow defeat came only over allegations of sexual misconduct and not because he wants to return to the days of slavery, voting by white males only, and wants to impose a theocratic vision on the US. Perhaps the tidal wave that put Trump in the White House and Republicans in control of all branches of government, has begun to recede. Perhaps Democrats can figure out how to keep winning elections. But if some of the worst candidates in history can be nearly elected, it means that the backward logic and disguised appeal to pre-civil war racism and women as second class citizens without voting or property rights remain powerful and dangerous.
Eventually, after defeating the Republicans in the state of Alabama, the Democrats have found hope for a victory in the 2018 election and domination of the Senate and the House of Representatives. Yet, we have to wait for the competition between the two main US parties. A competition that will be crucial for Trump and his entourage and will shape their political destiny.