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I think what is in play is that Trump is winning. If Moore can be defeated, that is a defeat for Trump and Trumpism and Bannon, i.e., a defeat for conservative populism’s attempt to control the GOP. If Moore were to lose, the narrative would be that the Trump wave has ended. So I think that has huge psychological significance for both the President’s political prestige and therefore power, and for the GOP primaries going into the 2018 mid-terms.

I don't think so. Trump didn't support Moore in the primaries and, in fact, the one that Trump supported, lost. The narrative you describe would make sense if the GOPe had supported Moore, not Strange, in the primaries, but both the GOPe and Trump supported Strange, and the GOPe was heavily anti-Moore before any association could be made between Trump and Moore.

I think that you are right, that they are trying to stem the tide, but I think that there is definitely moore going on than just that. I think this is all about setting up a "year of the shark" frenzy against sexual harassment, setting up the precedent that harassers have no place in governance, and then they will move on to their real target: Trump.

I definitely agree that the sexual harassment thing is a big part of the Left’s and GOPe’s thinking on this one. But Roy Moore has also gotten under their skin in a big way on religion (unapologetically evangelical as shown by the Ten Commandments controversy), on gay issues (which are all-important to Left, right up there with abortion) and with his disdain for the Establishment (saying he will not vote for McConnell as leader). So they really (!) do not like him. But I have to disagree a bit on the Trump angle. First of all, Trump has belatedly come back around to backing the Judge following the allegations so that this point Trump “will own” whatever happens. Surely that is the way the media would work overtime to portray a defeat. Second, the heavy Bannon involvement also throws this in Trump’s lap. Look, I think Judge Moore is going to win and we won’t have to worry about what would have happened if he lost.