DALTON, Georgia. – President Donald Trump on Monday made the headline of a rally ostensibly to garner support for the two Republicans in office the night before the Senate runoff, but quickly began to attack members of his own party, spreading misinformation about electoral fraud. and reform litigating the 2016 and 2020 elections.
“The fact is that we won the presidential election, we won a lot. And we will win tomorrow, ”said Trump at an outdoor rally on Monday night. “Democrats are trying to rob the White House. You just can’t let them rob the Senate.”
President-elect Joe Biden defeated Georgia by almost 12,000 votes and is expected to take office later this month, despite Trump’s repeated attempts to overturn the results.
Trump spent weeks lobbying Republican Senator Kelly Loeffler and Republican David Perdue, whose Senate term ended on Sunday, to consider his baseless allegations of widespread electoral fraud or the risk of shutting down his devoted base.
This pressure seemed to be effective.
In his brief speech on Monday, Loeffler announced that he would oppose certifying the votes of the Electoral College on Wednesday, joining an increasing number of Republican senators who gave in to Trump’s demands that they do more to overturn the election. in your favor. The vote is largely performative and poses no real risk of taking Biden’s presidency.
Perdue, who did not attend the rally in person due to close contact with someone who tested positive for the coronavirus, addressed the crowd in a video message.
“If you’re as angry as I am about November, get up with us and fight,” said Perdue. “If we don’t get up and vote tomorrow, everything President Trump has done to make America great again will be lost.”
Perdue faces Democrat Jon Ossoff, while Loeffler faces Raphael Warnock after candidates failed in November to reach the 50% vote limit necessary for an absolute victory.
Trump dismissed concerns from some Republicans that he would use his final rally to sabotage the party, telling his supporters not to participate in a voting process he has spent the last two months protesting against.
“No,” said Trump in response. “Do you know what I want? I want a great country.”
The president’s refusal to accept the election results reached on new heights on Saturday, when he pleaded with Georgian Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in a phone call to “find 11,780 votes” and threatened to continue to spread theories of fraud conspiracy electoral.
Trump kept that promise, using much of his approximately 70-minute speech to quote the number of ballots he claimed were missing from the final vote count, although there was no evidence to support his claims.
“I will be here in a year and a half and will campaign against your crazy governors and secretaries,” said Trump, expressing the fear that many Republicans had in defending the integrity of November. the election may risk losing the president’s support. In addition to his attacks on Raffensperger and Georgia Republican Governor Brian Kemp, both Republicans, Trump also attacked Senator Mike Lee, R-Utah, who did not join the effort to challenge the results on Wedesday.
“I’m a little mad at you now, Mike,” said Trump. He also referred to Vice President Mike Pence and his role in certifying the election on Wednesday: “I hope Mike Pence will show up for us. I must tell you. I hope that our great vice president will appear for us. He’s a great guy. Of course, if he doesn’t speak up, I won’t like him that much. “
Still, it is not clear how much Trump’s words will impact the outcome. More than 3 million people have already voted in Georgia’s runoff, breaking attendance records for an off-cycle race, and many supporters at Monday night’s event said they had already voted for Perdue and Loeffler.
“They may be RINOs, but at least they are not communists,” said Gilbert Deloye, 68, of Republican candidates for the Senate.
“November’s votes were stolen,” he added. “You can’t put lipstick on a pig. So, yes, I still voted this time because I know that Democrats are already working to steal this one and our best hope is that they will be caught red-handed. “
