“When you’re strange, faces come out of the rain.” – from the song “People Are Strange” by The Doors

You probably have not seen the low-budget horror film “The Babadook.”

Neither have I. But, you might have seen the social media meme spawned from a scene in the movie where an exasperated mother screams, “Why can’t you just be normal?” to her son while he is having an invisible monster-induced fit in the back seat of their car.

The meme uses an image of the mother yelling that question followed by an image where a celebrity’s face or a sports team logo is superimposed on the face of the son.

Maybe I see this meme more than other people because Auburn’s sports teams steadfastly refuse to win or lose in a normal, predictable manner.

Sometimes I wonder if the Alabama Republican Party feels like the mother in this silly Internet curiosity while the party’s now-former chairman, John Wahl, plays the part of the son. Wahl seems unwilling or incapable of forging through life in a typical or ordinary way.

Maybe his unusual approach is what has gotten him this far. His profession outside of the political realm is butterfly farmer. No joke.

The latest example comes from last week when Wahl received the brass ring of endorsements for a political race in Alabama when President Donald Trump said he would support Wahl in a run for Alabama’s lieutenant governor.

The problem was Wahl had not qualified to run for lieutenant governor at the time of Trump’s social media endorsement. Trump was forced to couch his language to say he would support Wahl should he decide to run.

Wahl did finally qualify to run at the 11^th hour. It was well-known Wahl was considering running for lieutenant governor, so there was no advantage in waiting until the last minute. My guess is he waited until he was sure he would receive Trump’s endorsement before throwing his hat in the ring.

The other oddity of Wahl’s candidacy is Wahl was the chairman of the Alabama Republican Party right up until he officially qualified to run.

He had to resign as chairman since it is against state party bylaws to run against other Republicans in a primary while also leading the party. Remaining as chairman would create an obvious conflict of interest and would be unfair to the others running against him.

An effort from some people in Wahl’s camp to amend the party’s rules to allow the state chairman to take a leave of absence when running for office and later resume duties at the completion of the campaign failed last summer.

Still, while it is not against the party rules to remain as chairman throughout the candidate qualification process only to resign on the final day to run yourself, it seems like doing so carries the potential for abuse.

Wahl now enters a hotly contested race headlined by Wes Allen, the current secretary of state, and Rick Pate, the current commissioner of agriculture and industries.

Allen is already on the attack, claiming Wahl has “betrayed his obligation to the Alabama Republican Party,” according to reporting from Birmingham’s WVTM 13.

Allen also claims Wahl used an identification card Wahl had created himself – not identification issued by a state government agency – to vote. AL.com’s Kyle Whitmire appears to corroborate Allen’s claim by reporting Wahl voted in the 2020 and 2022 election cycles with that card.

Wahl’s candidacy also opens up a fascinating possible future scenario where if he wins the GOP’s lieutenant governor nomination and Tommy Tuberville wins the party’s gubernatorial nomination then there is a possibility both candidates could be disqualified by a state court for not meeting state residency requirements to run for those respective offices.

Questions about Tuberville’s residences in Florida have been well-documented, but Whitmire reported Wahl registered to vote in Tennessee in December 2020 and carried a Tennessee driver’s license until at least 2023.

Both governor and lieutenant governor candidates are required to be residents of Alabama for at least seven consecutive years leading up to the date of their election.

Whitmire said Wahl explained that he had intended to move to Tennessee in 2020 but claims he never actually made the move to become a full-time Tennessee resident.

In case you were wondering, Wahl was elected chairman of the Alabama GOP in February 2021, only two months after registering to vote in Tennessee.

Like I said earlier, if it involves John Wahl, it ain’t ever gonna be a straight line from A to B. If you prefer your lines squiggly, he might be your guy.