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- In his first rally since losing to Democrat Joe Biden, Trump repeated his allegations of widespread fraud in the presidential election.
- Trump reminded the crowd to vote Republican in the January 5 runoff.
- The races will determine which party controls the United States Senate.
US President Donald Trump campaigned in Georgia on Saturday for two Republican senators at a rally that some in his party feared could end up hurting, not helping, their chances by focusing on their efforts to reverse their own defeat. electoral.
In his first appearance at a rally since losing to Democrat Joe Biden in the November 3 presidential race, Republican Trump reminded the singing crowd that he had come to South Georgia to persuade them to vote Republican in the second round of January 5.
But he quickly resorted to his repeated claims, made without evidence, of widespread fraud in the presidential elections.
“They cheated and rigged our presidential elections, but we will win them. And they will try to manipulate this election too,” Trump told the crowd in Valdosta, who chanted “We love you!” and “Four more years!”
He repeated his attacks on Republicans who have refused to back him, including Georgia Governor Brian Kemp. Earlier on Saturday, Trump called Kemp and pressured the governor on Twitter to take more action to help him overturn the election results.
The outgoing president’s claims of widespread election fraud have been rebuffed by state and federal officials across the country, and his campaign’s numerous legal challenges have nearly all failed.
Biden was the first Democratic presidential nominee to win in Georgia since 1992. State counts, including a close hand review of some 5 million ballots, revealed no significant irregularities.
The January runoff pits two Republican senators, David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, against well-funded Democratic challengers Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, seeking to capture a state that has not elected a Democratic senator in 20 years.
The races will determine which party controls the United States Senate. Democrats, who already have a majority in the House of Representatives, need to win both seats to control the Senate. If Republicans win a seat, they will retain their majority and will be able to block much of Biden’s legislative agenda.
Biden said he would visit Georgia to campaign for the Democratic candidates, but did not give a timetable for his trip.
Attack the Republicans
Governor Kemp did not attend the rally due to the death in a car accident of Harrison Deal, a close friend of the governor’s family and a member of Loeffler’s staff. However, he had an active exchange with Trump on Twitter earlier that day.
“I will win Georgia easily and quickly if Governor @BrianKempGA or Secretary of State allows a simple signature verification … Why are these two ‘Republicans’ saying no?” Trump wrote on Twitter.
After Kemp responded that he had “publicly requested a signature audit three times,” Trump said that was not good enough, adding in a second tweet that Kemp should immediately convene a special session of the state legislature.
“Your people refuse to do what you ask. What are they hiding?” Trump said.
In a move unprecedented in modern American history, Trump’s team has tried, unsuccessfully, to get Republican-controlled legislatures in Biden-won battle states to sideline the results and declare Trump the winner.
Biden won the election with 306 votes in the Electoral College, more than the 270 needed, compared to 232 for Trump. The Electoral College will meet on December 14 to formalize the result.
Trump said at Saturday’s rally that his challenge was headed to the US Supreme Court “very soon,” without elaborating. However, legal experts see no way to the highest court in the country.
Richard Hasen of UC Irvine School of Law said it was unclear which case Trump was referring to, but added: “I don’t think any of these efforts have any chance of success.”
Trump’s penchant for making his political rallies all about him – and now, about his claims that the US electoral system is rigged – had raised concerns among some Republicans that his appearance in Georgia could end up turning voters off. or making them feel like there is no point in voting.
Before the rally, Matt Towery, a former Georgia Republican legislator who is now a political analyst and pollster, said Trump could help if he praised the candidates, but cautioned:
“If you talk about them for 10 minutes and spend the rest of the time telling everyone how terrible Brian Kemp is, that will only make things worse.”
When Loeffler and Perdue briefly took the stage and Trump handed them the microphone, many in the crowd drowned out their words with chants of “Fight for Trump!”
Two pro-Trump attorneys, L. Lin Wood and Sidney Powell, have argued that Georgians should not vote in the second round until the 2020 election problems are resolved in the state, even after the lawsuits they have filed. to void the results have failed.
Trump said on Saturday that voters could and should refuse to accept what he called the presidential election results “rigged” while casting votes for Perdue and Loeffler in the second round.
“If you don’t vote, the socialists and the communists win,” he said. “We can fight for the presidency and fight to elect our two great senators, and we can do it at the same time.”
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