Was Trumpâs Endorsement Of Roy Moore A Mistake?
micah (Micah Cohen  politics editor): Welcome  all! Our topic for today: President Trumpâs endorsement of Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore. (And the Republican National Committee decision to support him again.) My question is â¦ what gives? Is this a political mistake?
harry (Harry Enten  senior political writer): I think itâs a stupid move.  Trump  is clearly trying to score a âwin â but itâs far from certain that Moore will get him one. All thatâs happened in that case is that heâs endorsed an accused child molester.
natesilver (Nate Silver  editor in chief):  Trump  coming out to endorse Moore is extremely â¦ unsurprising. And  yeah  I donât think it will change very much.
harry: I guess my question is: What is it that made  Trump  go from mostly endorsing Moore â essentially by attacking his opponent  Democrat Doug Jones â to fully endorsing him. Why do that?
natesilver: Have you ever known  Donald Trump  to take a half-measure? Everything plays out into the most extreme possible version of itself.
micah:  He  may have half-colluded?
harry:  He  ordered the code red!
julia_azari: So the âI hate political correctnessâ narrative seems to have worked out well for  Trump  in general. I wonder if  he  thinks this can be filed under that somehow â i.e.  liberals are going after someone for accusations that either didnât happen  or were a long time ago  or werenât as bad as they sound (to gather up a range of talking points made in Mooreâs defense).
Supporting Moore fits snuggly into  Trump âs larger message and image.
If Moore wins  I wonder if  Trump  would instinctually come out against expelling  him  because  he 'd see it as foreshadowing an impeachment proceeding. â Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) November 15  2017
And  Trump  might see  himself  as being unfairly attacked by the liberal media  just as Moore has been.
micah: OK  so Nate and I had an argument about this the other day  but how about this theory:  Trump  moved to a full-throated Moore endorsement because  he  has internal polling that shows Mooreâs lead increasing and so wants to hop on the bandwagon.
harry:  Trump  is likely looking at public polling. So  it âs simple  and I like  it .
natesilver: The simplest answer is that  Trump  supports Moore because birds of a feather flock together. And then the RNC backtracked so as to stay on the same page as  Trump . Also  the GOP brand was already going to take the PR hit once  Trump  endorsed Moore  so why not drop a few bucks on him?
harry: If theyâre so similar  then why in the heck did  Trump  not endorse  him  in the primary? Honest question.
natesilver: Endorsing Luther Strange was one of the most out-of-character things  Trump  has done.
micah (Micah Cohen  politics editor): Welcome  all! Our topic for today: President Trumpâs endorsement of Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore. (And the Republican National Committee decision to support him again.) My question is â¦ what gives? Is this a political mistake?
harry (Harry Enten  senior political writer): I think itâs a stupid move.   [TGT] is clearly trying to score a âwin â but  [TGT]  far from certain that Moore will get him one. All thatâs happened in that case is that heâs endorsed an accused child molester.
natesilver (Nate Silver  editor in chief):   [TGT] coming out to endorse Moore is extremely â¦ unsurprising. And  yeah  I  [TGT]  think  [TGT]  will change very much.
harry: I guess my question is: What is it that made   [TGT]   go from mostly endorsing Moore â essentially by attacking  [TGT]  opponent  Democrat Doug Jones â to fully endorsing  [TGT] . Why do that?
natesilver: Have you ever known   [TGT] to take a half-measure? Everything plays out into the most extreme possible version of itself.
micah:   [TGT]   may have half-colluded?
harry:   [TGT]   ordered the code red!
julia_azari: So the âI hate political correctnessâ narrative seems to have worked out well for  [TGT] in general. I wonder if  he  thinks this can be filed under that somehow â i.e.  liberals are going after someone for accusations that either didnât happen  or were a long time ago  or werenât as bad as they sound (to gather up a range of talking points made in Mooreâs defense).
Supporting Moore fits snuggly into   [TGT]  âs larger message and image.
If Moore wins  I wonder if   [TGT] would instinctually come out against expelling   [TGT]   because   [TGT]  'd see  [TGT]  as foreshadowing an impeachment proceeding. â Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) November 15  2017
And   [TGT] might see   [TGT]   as being unfairly attacked by the liberal media  just as Moore has been.
micah: OK  so Nate and I had an argument about this the other day  but how about this theory:   [TGT] moved to a full-throated Moore endorsement because   [TGT]   has internal polling that shows Mooreâs lead increasing and so wants to hop on the bandwagon.
harry:   [TGT] is likely looking at public polling. So   [TGT]  âs simple  and I like   [TGT]  .
natesilver: The simplest answer is that   [TGT] supports Moore because birds of a feather flock together. And then the RNC backtracked so as to stay on the same page as  [TGT]  . Also  the GOP brand was already going to take the PR hit once   [TGT]   endorsed Moore  so why not drop a few bucks on him?
harry: If theyâre so similar  then why in the heck did   [TGT] not endorse  him  in the primary? Honest question.
natesilver: Endorsing Luther Strange was one of the most out-of-character things   [TGT]   has done.