Donald Trump’s legal defeats pile up while his attacks on Georgia’s election
With the eyes of the political universe focused on turning out voters in Georgia — where the two runoff elections will determine which party controls the US Senate — the President’s relentless attacks on the state’s voting apparatus, its tabulating process and its Republican secretary of state are prompting handwringing among GOP strategists and state leaders who fear those attacks are eroding confidence in elections at a time when they need to turn out as many of their voters as possible to reelect Republican Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue on January 5 and hold onto their firewall against a Democrat-controlled House and White House.
Trump ratcheted up those attacks when speaking to reporters on Thanksgiving even as he touted his upcoming visit to campaign in Georgia on December 5, claiming without evidence that he was “robbed” with “fraud all over the place” and calling Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger “an enemy of the people.”
When asked by a reporter why he would expect GOP voters to have confidence after what he described as an illegitimate election and turn out for Loeffler and Perdue, Trump said he had warned the two senators: “Listen you have a fraudulent system … you have to be very careful.”
But on Friday, he backtracked as he tweeted a Newsmax story that said his supporters are considering an election boycott in Georgia over fraud claims. After falsely calling the November election a “scam” that he’s hoping to overturn, he encouraged people to “get out and help David and Kelly, two GREAT people.”
Trump’s rhetoric, and the way it could undermine Georgia’s electoral system, have been troubling to Republican strategists like Alice Stewart, a CNN contributor and native Georgian, who noted that bedrock Republican issues, including maintaining the conservative majority on the Supreme Court — and preventing Democrats from court packing and enacting liberal policies like the Green New Deal — will hinge on Republicans defending both Senate seats.
“Without a doubt, if this continues, it’s going to be a problem,” Stewart said of Trump’s baseless allegations about voting in Georgia. “I think every legal and legitimate vote should be counted, but at this stage of the game, to claim there’s widespread voter fraud, this claim that there is an election hoax — we need to see some evidence. We need to see what he’s talking about.”
“Otherwise, he needs to drop it and move on, because it’s not helpful to the process,” Stewart said, noting that she and many of her family members in Georgia voted for Trump…
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