If there’s a running Twitter thread with clips of Donald Trump’s most outrageous lies from his Monday night Georgia rally, I can’t find it and I’ve looked. Very simply, he spent most of his time repeating the same fantastic allegations that he said to Brad Raffensperger Sunday, and which state election supervisor Gabriel Sterling debunked today in a press conference, saying that hearing these things made him start yelling at the radio.
Trump not only railed about the usual “hundreds of thousands” of votes lost in Georgia, but also repeated the tired old saw of lost votes in Arizona, Nevada, Wisconsin — you know the drill. There was nothing new tonight, just more of the same. This was Trump’s last rally before he leaves office. Apparently this is his idea of going down swinging.
Trump also held out hope of still winning the White House, as he campaigned for David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler.
The pundits are silent tonight. It’s a dead heat in Georgia between the two races. The only prediction anyone seems comfortable making is that it will be all or nothing — either two Democrats or two Republicans. Predictions of 1-1 are not taking place, although it’s admitted that anything is possible.
Trump lacerated Brian Kemp and Brad Raffensperger from the podium, vowing, “I’ll be back here in a year and a half campaigning against them.” The question is, did Trump, in asking for a “Republican tidal wave at the polls” Tuesday, so that the two senators wouldn’t meet the same fate as he did and have the election “stolen” manage to screw up this election or did he pull it out of the fire? The key issue is, will the same anti-Trump fervor that won Georgia for the Democrats prevail Tuesday? Or, are Georgians okay with Republicans not named Trump? The Hill:
Sunday’s revelation of Trump’s phone call a day earlier with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) — in which he harangued Raffensperger to “find” enough votes to make him the winner — has given added motivation to Democrats.
Some Republicans are worried that Trump’s constant accusations that the presidential election in Georgia was rigged could also adversely affect turnout among his supporters.
Republican strategist Ryan Williams said Trump has been a “hindrance” to Perdue’s and Loeffler’s chances.
Williams noted that, despite Trump’s loss at the presidential level, Georgia remains a “slightly reddish” state where, all else being equal, Republicans would be favored.
“Trump lost at the presidential level for the first time since the early ’90s because he alienated suburban, Republican-leaning voters and motivated Democratic voters to turn out in bigger numbers than they usually do,” Williams said. “Trump’s antics over the past several weeks have ensured Democratic voters continue to be engaged and outraged and have a higher likelihood of turning out on Election Day.”
Loeffler in particular has hewed close to Trump, including backing up his attempts to cast aspersions on the conduct of the presidential election.
Now that last observation bears scrutiny. Loeffler went up to the podium and proclaimed how she was going to vote with the other GOP senators to challenge certification on Wednesday. Perdue was not asked to come to the podium. Purportedly he’s in quarantine, but that may be a convenient dodge. He was completely invisible during the rally and in this high tech world if he wanted to make an appearance, validate Trump or have Trump acknowledge him, he could have.
Loeffler is looking to ride Trump’s coattails, that much is apparent. Perdue may just be wishing he was running in some other era, because January, 2021 is not the most hospitable of times.
We’ll see what happens soon enough. Bottom line, castigating the voting procedures and the elected officials in charge of same is, on a common sense level, not a good motivator for people to go to the polls. We’ll see if Trump gets his tidal wave, or a doggy puddle. If the latter happens, nobody will have to wonder how it did. It will be Trump’s doing. Trump is counting on the old “magic” but he may be magicked out in Georgia. And apparently that’s the reality he simply cannot face.
I want the Dems to win in Ga for all the correct reasons. But I also want rump to lose so I can watch him lose again.
That’s what I hope is going to happen. Let’s see what we’re saying tomorrow night.
Wanting Trump to lose ALSO counts as a correct reason.
“So much winning. We’re gonna win so much, you’ll get tired of winning.”…let’s hope so & the cult stays home to watch reruns of the Apprentice glory days.
That has become ‘so much whining,,,,,,,’ (and we’re all tired of his whining)
it is either 0-2 or 2-0. Georgia, please do me right.
“The key issue is, will the same anti-Trump fervor that won Georgia for the Democrats prevail Tuesday? Or, are Georgians okay with Republicans not named Trump?”
Well, you’ve got a real conundrum since the reason for the Perdue/Ossoff runoff exists because 2.32% of Georgia’s voters in November opted for the Libertarian candidate while Perdue got 49.73% and Ossoff got 47.95%. The interesting thing about those percentages is that, in 2014, Perdue got 52.89% to Democratic challenger Michelle Nunn’s 45.21% (the Libertarian candidate that year only drew 1.9%); of course, the 2020 election attracted nearly twice as many voters as 2014.
And, over in the Warnock/Loeffler race, since it was a “jungle primary” where pretty much anyone who qualified to run was able to do so, you had 8 candidates who declared as Democrats, 6 candidates who declared as Republicans (1 of whom withdrew before the election but after his name was placed on the ballot), 1 declared as a Libertarian, 1 declared as a Green and 4 who declared as “Independent.” The combined slate of Democrats attracted 48.39% of the vote (just above Ossoff’s total) and the combined slate of Republicans attracted 49.37% (just slightly under Perdue’s total). The other 6 candidates pulled in just 2.24% with none drawing more than 0.72% (which went to the Libertarian candidate, for the record; the Green candidate got just 0.31%). Warnock was the clear favorite among the Democratic candidates, drawing 32.9% of the total vote (accounting for 68% of the total Democratic slate) but Loeffler’s status wasn’t quite so clear-cut as she pulled in 25.91% (accounting for just 52% of the total GOP slate); the third-place candidate, Republican Doug Collins pulled in 19.95% of the vote (accounting for 40% of the GOP slate). The truly fun thing, though, is that this race pulled in 37,814 *fewer* voters than the Perdue/Ossoff race. Oh, and something even more hilarious is Loeffler’s entire behavior in this race. Sure, Trump endorsed her in the general election but when Brian Kemp had to make his decision to fill Isakson’s seat, Trump backed another candidate–a certain Doug Collins. And Collins attracted an interesting list of endorsements before the election–names like Devin Nunes, Michael Flynn, Mike Huckabee, Rudy Giuliani and Roger Stone.
So, overall, Georgia voters are more likely to vote for the Republican candidate but it will definitely depend on those third-party/independent voters. Not to mention, if Trumpers try to figure out (sharing a single brain can be tough) whether to follow Trump’s advice and stay home because the election process is rigged or get out and vote for Loeffler (even though the Democrats will somehow rig the election despite the election officials are GOPers).
None of that matters because the turnout for a special election is radically different from the turnout for a general presidential election. It will totally dependent on turnout — third party/independent voters are completely irrelevant here — and who is more motivated. There’s just no way of knowing until we see the result.
Perdue might be too sick to participate, even remotely. Guy’s been quiet during a fairly critical time in his campaign.
Or maybe he’s been just too busy doing some last minute insider trading before he loses access to classified information.
He does have the virus.
I’m of the “anything could happen” school. But I find it depressing that Loeffler and Perdue, with their outrageous, corrupt and possibly criminal self-dealing and complete lack of any platform or ideas about how to help people, could be competitive, while Democrats get beat up — or beat themselves up — for every trivial misstep.
Green Eggs and tRUMP
Break out the popcorn
Load up the bong
The next several days
Could get really long.
Enjoy all the hooplah,
The sedition and more
That Donald J Trump
Will lay at our door.
His minds is not right
He just doesn’t get it
Leaders in his party
Would rather forget it.
He’ll scream and he’ll shout
He’ll say he’s been screwed
But come January 20th
His ass will be moved!
very cute.
” i smoke marijuana every chance i get.” Allen Ginsberg from his poem America
Go GA Blue! My husband and I voted early and I can tell you that everything was on the up and up! No fraud!