'I won't vote next time': could Georgia Republicans' doubts cost them the runoffs?
Oliver Laughland in Atlanta and Sam Levine in New York
Sun 13 Dec 2020 02.30 EST
As the sun dipped on a crisp autumnal evening in southern Georgia, Lauren Voyle stood in line for a front-row seat on the makeshift risers at the Valdosta regional airport. Donald Trump was due to arrive on the tarmac in a few hours’ time.
It was the first time the president would hold a rally since losing the election in November and Voyle, who wore a blue Trump 2020 cap with the slogan “Keep Liberals Crying” on the rim, had driven four and a half hours from Cumming, a small city in the northern part of the state, to witness what she described as a historic moment.
The president had ostensibly travelled to Georgia to canvass for the two Republican senate candidates, David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, before a critical runoff election in January. But he spent the vast majority of an incoherent, 90-minute monologue spreading baseless disinformation about a rigged election, continuing to claim victory after losing by more than 7 million votes. Georgia election officials, meanwhile, have done three separate counts of the presidential vote, each time confirming Biden’s victory in the state.
Donald Trump attends a rally in support of the senators David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler.
Photograph: Spencer Platt/Getty Images
Some national Republicans fear that Trump’s continued denial of the results could have major consequences for the party in January, when this Senate election will determine control of the upper chamber. With over 70% of Republicans, according to recent polling, now believing that November’s presidential election was not “free and fair”, there are concerns that a collapse in trust in electoral processes could cost conservatives dearly at the ballot box.
More:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/dec/13/georgia-senate-runoff-election-republicans-fraud-claims
(I think Trump looks jealous of Kelly Loeffler in this photo! Maybe he resents her youth, wealth, real hair, and better "looks"?)
= new reply since forum marked as read
