Most of all, this election is a test of Trump’s bond with his own base, which has been key in safeguarding him within his own party as his presidency’s troubles mount and which has so far stuck by him despite his failure to deliver on several key campaign promises. Alabama, where Trump won the Republican primary by 23 points, offers a useful locale for this proxy war. Who is more influential with Trump’s base: Trump himself, or the constellation of powerful voices on the right to whom base voters listen and who are supporting Moore? Is the Trump movement about Trump the man, or is it about something else?

Moore supporters are reconciling the discrepancy by arguing that Trump has been the recipient of bad advice and emphasizing that they still support him despite this one disagreement.

“Bannon versus Trump is the sexy media narrative, but it’s actually interesting because it’s not just Bannon, it’s Sean Hannity, it’s Laura Ingraham, it’s Mike Huckabee,” said one Bannon ally. “It’s Eagle Forum’s Ed Martin, it’s a whole host of these folks who were the president’s biggest national supporters and remain his biggest national supporters.”

“People are trying to paint this as Steve turning on the president somehow, when in reality it’s perfectly normal to be able to completely support someone but have disagreements on endorsements,” the ally said. “I think Trump still has influence but at the end of the day I think people are really passionate about Judge Moore.”

This race isn’t really about policy or even ideology. It’s turned into a referendum on the Republican establishment—as well as, of course, a fight over internal Alabama issues and politics. Moore supporters see Strange as a tool of the establishment and are suspicious of the way he was appointed by former Alabama Governor Robert Bentley, who left office amid scandal over an affair with a staffer and an investigation into alleged misuse of state funds. They don’t think Strange stands for anything.

Moore’s beliefs, on the other hand, are vehement and well-known, on everything from homosexuality (he said in a 2005 interview that “homosexual conduct” should be illegal) to former President Obama’s place of birth (as recently as December, he was still trafficking in birtherism). And, of course, the 10 Commandments saga, which lost him his judgeship twice, raised his profile among grassroots conservatives nationwide, and which plenty of Moore voters alluded to when I asked them why they like him so much.

The enthusiasm gap, at least anecdotally, is substantial. A few hundred Moore fans gathered in a converted railway station in Montgomery on Thursday night for an event hosted by Great America Alliance, a super PAC aligned with Bannon which has been running ads against Strange in the race. The evening began with a watch party for the Moore versus Strange debate that night, which was done Lincoln-Douglas style and in which Strange leaned heavily on his endorsement by Trump, mentioning it as much as possible. The special guests were to include Moore himself, Sarah Palin, and Sebastian Gorka, the former White House official and frequent Fox News commentator who was fired from—or quit, according to him— the administration last month.