STAKES RAISED: Palin, Gorka To Campaign Against Trump’s Candidate In Alabama GOP Senate Primary.

Increasingly this feels less like GOP civil war than a world war, with far-flung players getting sucked in. First it was Roy Moore versus Luther Strange in the Alabama Senate runoff. Mitch McConnell naturally backed the incumbent Strange, who’s been a team player in the Senate. Steve Bannon then jumped in on behalf of Moore, who’s led Strange in the polls and whose victory in the primary would serve notice to Republicans on the Hill that the base wants populism. But then, somewhat illogically, Trump decided to double down on his endorsement of Strange during the primary by agreeing to hold a pre-runoff rally for him in Alabama this coming Friday night. If anything can save Strange from likely defeat, it’s POTUS’s support in a deep red state.

But Bannon’s not licked yet. He’s going to counter Trump’s support for the establishmentarian by bringing in a pair of big-name right-wing populists, Sarah Palin and Sebastian Gorka, to hold a rally for Moore on Thursday evening. Checkmate for Strange? Not just yet: Mike Pence will travel to Alabama next week and hold a rally of his own for the incumbent on Monday night, the day before the election.

These things gotta happen every five years or so, ten years. Helps to get rid of the bad blood.