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CUMMING, Georgia – Outgoing President Donald Trump throws one grenade after another in the second round of the high-stakes Georgia Senate in the final days before Tuesday’s election.
And we do not know who will be the victims of its explosions.
First, it was his refusal to accept defeat in the 2020 election that clouded his party’s message about the need to keep the Senate in Republicans’ hands. Then he pushed GOP leaders to pass $ 2,000 stimulus checks, forcing Sen. David Perdue and Sen. Kelly Loeffler to change their stance on the issue to align with him.
He also has described the “Republican Senate” as “pathetic” for pushing back on demands to repeal an Internet accountability law known as Section 230 in a military bill vote that Perdue and Loeffler failed.
Trump on Friday falsely claimed that the entire 2020 Georgia election, including the two Senate races, was “illegal and invalid.” On Saturday, Trump again questioned the legitimacy of the state’s electoral system.
His recent round of tweets came moments after Loeffler urged gatherers in that Atlanta suburb to vote and urged people they know across the state to vote.
“We have to hold the line,” she said. “We are the firewall to stop socialism in America.”
The impact of Trump’s bombings is unpredictable in the highly polarized environment of a competitive state and an election out of year. His claims appear to have energized voters on both parties and, with polls showing the two races neck and neck, it’s unclear which side will win. Trump is scheduled to appear at a rally for Perdue and Loeffler on Monday night in the town of Dalton.
Tuesday’s runoff will shape the administration of President-elect Joe Biden. If Democrats win both seats, they will take control of the Senate and set the agenda. If at least one of the two Republican incumbents wins, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Will have a pocket veto on Biden’s legislative agenda, administration staff superior and judicial appointments.
“Tuesday is all. Tuesday is all,” Jon Ossoff, the Democratic candidate against Perdue, said during an election stop at Stone Mountain, just outside of Atlanta. “And the work you are doing today to mobilize the community to step aside and vote will make a difference.”
While Ossoff has a busy schedule, Perdue was forced to quit the election campaign, claiming Thursday he would self-quarantine after coming into “close contact” with a member of his team who has Covid-19. He expects to miss Trump’s rally on Monday, he told Fox News.
Rich McCormick, the 2020 Republican nominee for that city’s narrowly losing congressional district to a Democrat, said “there is a danger” that Trump’s attacks on Republicans who run the Senate could hurt politically to Perdue and Loeffler.
“His ability to get people excited is what got him elected,” McCormick told reporters after attending a rally here with Loeffler and Senator Ted Cruz, R-Texas. “He’s trying to get people who normally show up just for him to show up for them, and I think that’s a good thing.”
Races in Georgia were plunged into more uncertainty on Saturday after 11 Republican senators announced they would reject voters in some states unless a commission is created to investigate election results – as part of ‘a last-ditch effort by Trump’s allies to reverse the election result.
The Jan.6 effort is virtually guaranteed to fail, as senators conceded in a joint statement. Perdue’s term will have expired by then, regardless of the outcome of the election, so he will not participate. Loeffler declined to say how she will vote, telling reporters “everything is on the table right now” and vowing to “keep fighting for this president”.
Her Democratic rival, Raphael Warnock, tore her apart.
“We continue to hit new lows. It is outrageous and outrageous that unelected Georgia Senator Kelly Loeffler does not stand up for the voices of the people in Georgia,” Warnock told CNN. “We have a democratic system. And the four most powerful words are, people have spoken.”
The effort to block the count of some electoral votes won by President-elect Joe Biden has been criticized by many Republicans, including Pennsylvania Senator Pat Toomey and Utah Senator Mitt Romney. McConnell urged GOP senators not to participate in the effort.
Later Saturday Trump labeled McConnell in a tweet pressuring Congress to pass $ 2,000 payments, citing a Republican pollster who said they were popular. This again undermined the GOP’s message on Senate control.
McCormick described Trump as the political equivalent of a character played by Adam Sandler in a popular 1996 film.
“He’s kind of like the Happy Gilmore of golf. He’s the guy who isn’t supposed to be there, who has an incredible unorthodox clientele,” McCormick said. “Here is this guy who can just drive the long ball, but all of a sudden he’s for real. And he wins.”
Stacey Khizder and Julia Jester contributed.
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