Steve Bannon made his debut as a political surrogate on Monday in a fiery speech in opposition to a Republican candidate endorsed by his former boss Donald Trump.

But at a rally on behalf of Senate candidate Roy Moore in Alabama, the former White House adviser insisted, in a deliberate echo of Mark Antony’s funeral oration for Julius Caesar: “We did not come here to defy Donald Trump – we came here to praise and honor him.”

The specter hanging over the event was the fact that Trump himself has endorsed Moore’s opponent, appointed incumbent Luther Strange. Speakers at the rally depicted Trump as someone who had been led astray and insisted that a vote for Moore was the right decision for supporters of the president.

Quick guide Gay bans and praise for Putin: the world according to Roy Moore Show Hide Homosexuality should be illegal In 2005, Moore said: “Homosexual conduct should be illegal.” In an interview televised on C-Span, Moore added: “It is immoral. It is defined by the law as detestable.” During a debate in September 2017, he went out of his way to bemoan the fact that “sodomy [and] sexual perversion sweep the land”. September 11 attacks as divine punishment In a speech in February, Moore appeared to suggest that the terrorist attacks of September 11 were the result of divine retribution against the United States and prophesized in the Book of Isaiah. In comments first reported by CNN, Moore quoted Isaiah 30:12-13, saying: “Because you have despised His word and trust in perverseness and oppression, and say thereon ... therefore this iniquity will be to you as a breach ready to fall, swell out in a high wall, whose breaking cometh suddenly at an instance.” Moore then noted: “Sounds a little bit like the Pentagon, whose breaking came suddenly at an instance, doesn’t it?” He added: “If you think that’s coincidence, if you go to verse 25: ‘There should be up on every high mountain and upon every hill, rivers and streams of water in the day of the great slaughter when the towers will fall.’" Praise for Putin In an interview with the Guardian in August, Moore praised Putin for his views on gay rights. “Maybe Putin is right. Maybe he’s more akin to me than I know.” The comments came after Moore suggested the United States could be described as “the focus of evil in the world” because “we promote a lot of bad things”. Moore specifically named gay marriage as one of those “bad things”.

'Reds and yellows’ At a rally earlier in September, Moore talked about “reds and yellows fighting” while discussing racial division in the United States. Moore justified this on Twitter by citing lyrics from the song Jesus Loves the Little Children. He wrote “Red, yellow, black and white they are precious in His sight. Jesus loves the little children of the world. This is the Gospel.” Tracking livestock is communism In 2006, Moore condemned a proposal for a national ID system for animals as “more identifiable with communism than free enterprise”. The proposal received attention after a cow in Alabama had been diagnosed with mad cow disease. Moore, who was then running for governor, was skeptical that the outbreak was real. Instead, Moore suggested it was a ruse intended to promote the tracking system.



Bannon – who repeatedly denounced Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell while laying out his economic nationalist vision – even ended his remarks by proclaiming: “A vote for Judge Roy Moore is a vote for Donald J Trump and a vote for Donald J Trump is a vote to Make America Great Again.”

The rally, held in a barn about 30 minutes outside Mobile, Alabama, also included Bannon ally Nigel Farage as well as former reality star Phil Robertson in an event that seemed to demonstrate the two critical strands of the Trump base: social conservatives and those who embrace the Breitbart strain of populism.

While Farage and Bannon denounced elites, big business and media, Moore and Robertson were far more prone to quote the Bible.

Farage denounced “career politicians, big banks and multinational corporations” and compared what he saw as Washington Republicans’ betrayal of the Trump agenda to the UK Conservatives’ attempts to “delay” and “water down” Brexit. He also made a slightly incongruous plea to Alabamians to “fill their motorcars” before they go to vote on Tuesday.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Nigel Farage speaks at a rally for US Senate hopeful Roy Moore in Alabama. Photograph: Brynn Anderson/AP

Meanwhile Moore recited passages from the Book of Hosea from memory and Robertson even brought a copy of the Bible on stage. However, those differences were papered over by their shared disdain for McConnell and the Washington establishment. As former Mississippi US Senate candidate Chris McDaniel told reporters before the event when asked if he was invited by Moore or Bannon: “Aren’t they one and the same?”

Moore, who painted the race as a stand “against the Washington establishment”, insisted he would support Trump on conservative priorities, asking rhetorically: “How hard is it to repeal Obamacare?” He also rebutted attack ads suggesting he was “soft” on the second amendment by brandishing a revolver on stage.

Margaret McMinn of Gulf Shore, Alabama, showed up with a sign that said: “Thank You Lord Jesus for Senator Roy Moore.” McMinn – a loyal Trump supporter who made a similar sign for his 2015 rally in Mobile – told the Guardian that God had told her then that Trump would be president and she was unconcerned now about his endorsement of Strange. “He was given bad information,” she said.

Kim Jong-un, the NFL and 'screaming at senators': Trump's Strange night in Alabama Read more

Much of the energy from the crowd came when speakers attacked those they believed had misled Trump. Bannon received energetic applause when he taunted the attendees with what he claimed McConnell and the Washington Republican establishment thought of them: “They think you’re a pack of morons, they think you’re nothing but rubes.” The former White House aide went on to slam several Republican consultants in Washington by name as he assailed “economic hate crimes done on the working class of this country”.

Bannon did strike one dissonant note, insisting his message of economic nationalism would unite Americans regardless of race, religion or sexual preference. Moore has suggested that homosexuality be subject to criminal punishment and was removed from office as Alabama’s chief justice in 2016 for attempting to defy the supreme court’s ruling on same-sex marriage. Bannon appeared to distance himself from some of Moore’s more controversial remarks, noting: “Judge Moore is not perfect. Judge Moore does not claim to be perfect.”

The rally came as vice-president Mike Pence was appearing on Strange’s behalf in Birmingham, three days after Trump held a rally for the candidate. Trump issued a tweet as the rally ended, saying: “Big election tomorrow in the Great State of Alabama. Vote for Senator Luther Strange, tough on crime & border – will never let you down!”

Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) Big election tomorrow in the Great State of Alabama. Vote for Senator Luther Strange, tough on crime & border - will never let you down!

However, with polls showing Moore likely to win on Tuesday, the election is poised to present a major crisis for Republicans in Washington. Both Moore and Bannon have tried to turn the election into a referendum on McConnell. Bannon accused Strange of being owned by the Senate majority leader “lock, stock and barrel”, and Moore received his biggest applause of the night by declaring: “Mitch McConnell needs to be replaced.”

With Bannon allies already salivating over the prospect of primary challenges in 2018 against a number of incumbent Republican senators who are viewed as insufficiently conservative, this race will serve as a test of whether ties to McConnell can be used as a negative in a Republican primary. If so, Bannon is likely to be hitting the stump against McConnell a lot more in the coming year.