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The two rounds of the Senate on Tuesday are “his last chance to save the America we love,” the president said. “If he doesn’t show up, the Radical Democrats will win.”
FILE: US President Donald Trump speaks in the White House meeting room on November 5, 2020 in Washington, DC. Image: AFP
DALTON – President Donald Trump on Monday implored Georgians to “save” America and re-elect Republicans in two elections that will determine control of the US Senate and could decisively impact the start of Joe Biden’s term in the House. White
“Our country depends on you. The whole world is watching the people of Georgia tomorrow,” Trump, who still refuses to admit defeat in the presidential election just two weeks before leaving office, told a noisy crowd in the presidential election. Dalton town.
The two rounds of the Senate on Tuesday are “his last chance to save the America we love,” the president said. “If he doesn’t show up, the Radical Democrats will win.”
Georgia has not elected a Democrat to the Senate in 20 years. But if Jon Ossoff, a 33-year-old documentary producer, and Pastor Raphael Warnock, 51, both win, the Democrats will control the Senate, handing Biden all the levers of political power in Washington.
Trump, still planning to reverse his electoral defeat and lashing out at Republicans who oppose his efforts, traveled to Georgia amid a scandal over his blatant attempt to pressure state officials to revoke the certified vote and award him victory.
While he repeatedly urged his supporters to vote Tuesday for Republican Senate incumbents Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue, both wealthy businessmen-turned-politicians, he also embraced the politics of grievance.
In his 81-minute speech, he recited a long list of complaints about “massive” electoral irregularities in Georgia and other swing states where he was defeated.
“There is no way we have lost Georgia,” he said to a standing ovation from his supporters, most of whom were maskless and did not seem concerned about the lack of social distancing due to the coronavirus.
“They are not going to take this White House,” he said of the Biden Democrats. “We’re going to fight like hell!”
Biden, who will take over the White House on January 20, also flew to Georgia, in the capital Atlanta, on Monday in a more moderate event for Warnock and Ossoff.
“It is a new year and tomorrow may be a new day for Atlanta, for Georgia and for America,” the 78-year-old said cheering voters at a rally.
He attacked Trump for relentlessly “complaining” about unproven electoral fraud rather than enhancing the national response to the coronavirus pandemic.
“I don’t know why he still wants the job, he doesn’t want to do the job,” Biden said.
Georgia has been reliably Republican, but Biden beat Trump by nearly 12,000 votes in Peach state in the November election, and the polls have the Senate running toe-to-toe.
Republicans have 50 seats in the 100-member Senate. A single runoff victory would give them a majority and the ability to thwart Biden’s agenda.
A Democratic sweep would result in a 50-50 split, and Democrats would have the runoff vote on incoming Vice President Kamala Harris.
‘FIND 11,780 VOTES’
Loeffler attended Trump’s spirited rally and briefly addressed the crowd.
Perdue, however, is in quarantine after contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19, and virtually dialed in to say that Georgians must “hold the line.”
Randy Stelly, 68, said he drove “800 or 900 miles” from Texas to see Trump, and that the president “should never give in, never.”
The Georgia rallies come a day after The Washington Post published the shocking recording of a phone call between Trump and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.
On the tape, Trump tells Raffensperger that he wants to “find 11,780 votes,” one more than Biden’s margin of victory in Georgia, and makes vague threats that Raffensperger could face “great risk” if he doesn’t.
Surprisingly, Biden did not mention the explosive recording on Monday, but he did deal a blow to Trump’s efforts to nullify the election results.
“Politicians cannot assert, take or take power,” Biden said. “Power is vested in the American people and we can’t give that up.”
Several Republicans have also criticized Trump for bringing a wrecking ball to democratic norms, and Sen. Pat Toomey said the president’s call to Georgia “represents a new low.”
PRESSURE ON PENCE
Georgia’s runoff will take place the day before Congress certifies the Electoral College votes that determine the winner of the White House.
Certification is usually a formality, but dozens of House Republicans and 12 Senate Republicans, including Loeffler, have indicated they will raise objections.
At least one member of the House and one member of the Senate must file an objection to the certification to send to both houses for discussion and vote.
However, the votes would be doomed in the Democratic-controlled House and the Republican-majority Senate, where several Republican senators have said they will not contest Biden’s victory.
In Georgia, Trump, who has savagely attacked Republicans who have refused to back up his baseless claims, highlighted Vice President Mike Pence’s role in chairing the congressional certification session to join on Wednesday, and his tone turned ominous.
“I hope our great vice president helps us,” Trump said. “Although if he doesn’t make it, I won’t like him so much.”
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