“I just want to find 11,780 votes.” That phrase caught the eye in the hour-long phone call between former US President Donald Trump and Georgia’s Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger days after the 2020 presidential election. In that conversation, revealed by The Washington Post, Trump repeatedly pressured the state official and his aides out change the election result and give him a winner in Georgia. Raffensperger and State Gov. Brian Kemp stood firm and refused to cheat. Now Trump is plotting revenge.
Still missing results from the key state of Pennsylvania, the Georgia primary arrives this Tuesday to choose the candidates who will face off in the Nov. 8 midterm elections. In them, the entire House of Representatives, a third of the Senate and numerous state and local offices will be filled. In Georgia, in addition to candidates for Congress, the governor and secretary of state are elected. Raffensperger and Kemp are aiming for a rerun, but Trump is trying not to do so and has backed two alternate candidates.
Kemp’s rival, former Senator David Perdue, campaigned in front of a large banner that read “Trump Won” last weekend. It may seem like an “Elvis Lives”-style folkloric phrase, but fed by politicians who embrace conspiracy theories and the media and social networks that broadcast them, many Republican voters believe the hoax that the 2020 presidential election is… had already been manipulated by Trump was robbed of his victory.
A survey this year by a research center at the University of Georgia’s School of Public and International Affairs found that 73.6% of Republican voters in the state believed the 2020 presidential election featured “massive voter fraud.” It was the first time since 1992 that a Republican lost Georgia in the presidential election.
Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (known as MTG) at a first campaign rally in Plainville, Georgia. JOE RAEDLE (AFP)
One of the major voices in this conspiracy theory is Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, known as MTG. His latest quip was to inadvertently link the recent cases of monkeypox to Bill Gates, a popular target of conspiracy theories, by implying he would make big bucks from the outbreak. MTG advertised at the same biker festival as Perdue on Friday, but while she was spotted in her element hopping on a Harley, drinking beer or joking with attendees, Perdue looked a bit out of place.
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Perdue has been out of line for most of the campaign and trails Kemp in the polls, despite Trump’s support. He was CEO of large companies like Reebok or Dollar General. He was elected Senator in 2014 but has remained very active in business dealings with suspected conflicts of interest or insider trading. After serving the six-year term, he lost re-election in the second round in January 2021, handing over a key seat to the Democrats.
When Trump endorsed him to run for governor, many thought the die was cast. He funded Perdue with $2.6 million, his highest stake in any primary, and in a state where so many Republicans believe vote-stealing, Trump’s endorsement would have felt infallible. From the start, it was interpreted by the former president as an attempt at revenge against Kemp, whom he brutally shot, calling him a “coward” and saying he was “a total and utter disaster”. He didn’t stop his attacks until last week.
But Perdue hasn’t proven to be a very enthusiastic candidate. Also, despite Trump’s financial backing, he hasn’t had many more funding sources and has achieved much less funding than Kemp. Trump himself has seen things not looking good and has avoided holding joint events for the past two months.
Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts (left) shakes hands with Georgia Governor Brian Kemp at his campaign rally in Watkinsville, Georgia. JOE RAEDLE (AFP)
The governor has the money and he has the job. From his position, Kemp has tried to mix his government actions with the campaign. Last week it announced a $5.5 billion investment by Hyundai that would create nearly 8,000 jobs. Also, Kemp Management has to sell. And despite the fact that Trump has tried to put the RINO label (Republican in name only) on it, in reality that management is quite right-wing.
During his tenure as governor, Kemp was among the first to end confinement and masks. He opened bars, restaurants, schools and shops as soon as he could. He cut taxes, including a timely gas shutdown. It has pushed forward an anti-abortion law, it has passed a rule allowing people to take to the streets with concealed weapons without special permits, it has tightened voting requirements and it has restricted what teachers can say about issues like racism can teach example. He has forgotten Trump and campaigned against the current President, Democrat Joe Biden. The applied program follows the republican ideology.
One of the things that happens in the Republican primary is that Trumpism dominates as an ideological discourse, but Trump’s candidates are not always the favorites within the party. Doctor Oz is not very popular in the party and has had a disappointing result in Pennsylvania, although he is still fighting vote for vote to win the Senate primary. Madison Cawthorn was left out in her North Carolina county. His candidates for governor in Ohio, Idaho and Nebraska also lost primaries. While there is a majority of Trump nominees who have won, the former president has sometimes jumped on the winning horse at the last minute, as with Doug Mastriano in the Pennsylvania gubernatorial primary. In general, Trump’s support is not infallible, as evidenced even on the night JD Vance won in Ohio.
bitter defeat
For the former president, Georgia’s is perhaps the bitterest defeat since the one he suffered in 2020. His former vice president, Mike Pence, has also come on the scene with strong support for Kemp. Other state Republican governors have also preferred to back those already in office rather than Trump’s nominees. In fact, a clear victory for Kemp could have some therapeutic effect on some of the Republican leaders, who believe it’s time to turn the page on the losing 2020 election (including in Georgia) and focus on the debates that pertain to the Citizens, from inflation to crime, through the pandemic, taxes or abortion.
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger during a news conference in Atlanta on November 6, 2020 to report on the development of the presidential tally. DUSTIN CHAMBERS
It is more difficult for Raffensperger. The Georgian foreign minister is, for better or for worse, unknown to voters. But it is very difficult for him to get more than 50% of the votes this Tuesday, which is necessary in Georgia so that there is no second ballot. If he has to choose between just two candidates again, he will have a hard time asserting himself against Trump’s candidates. In any case, this piece looks like a little game for the former president, who is obsessed that the governor had the opportunity to change the outcome in 2020.
Former football player Herschel Walker, despite his dark past, is the undisputed favorite in the Senate race. His wife divorced him because of his violent and threatening behavior. And then she reported that when she started dating someone else, he threatened to kill her. He has Trump’s full support.
Early voter turnout nearly tripled in the Georgia primary. There are also primaries this Tuesday in Arkansas, Minnesota and Alabama, as well as second rounds in the undecided Texas primaries, including the one facing Ken Paxton (supported by Trump) with George P. Bush as Attorney General. the new generation of the saga.
Donald Trump during a campaign event in Georgia in 2020. Jonathan Ernst
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