President Trump probably didn’t hurt Republicans Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue in their Georgia runoffs on Monday night, but he wasn’t there to “do no harm.” He was there to help heave them through the finish line, and anyone who watched his mega-rally couldn’t honestly say for certain that he did it.
The first 30 minutes of Trump’s speech were absolutely fantastic. He naturally griped about his belief that he was robbed of his bid for reelection two months ago by way of a confluence of massive voter fraud and dubious court rulings, for which there is evidence and arguments for both. But he framed his grievance in the context of Republicans needing to ensure that such an occurrence fails to repeat itself in the Georgia Senate runoffs on Tuesday and in future elections as well.
“There’s no way we lost Georgia,” Trump said at the top of his speech, referring to 2020. “There’s no way. That was a rigged election.” But he was quick to add that this week’s election is “one of the most important runoff elections in the history of our country” and to say that “the stakes in this election could not be higher.”
He was generous in devoting time to boosting the voting records of incumbents Perdue and Loeffler: They support the border wall, they confirmed Trump’s Supreme Court justices, and they are reliable votes against the excesses of the Democratic Party agenda. “Tonight,” Trump said, “our mission here in Georgia is to make sure the radical Left cannot rob you of your voice.”
There were a lot of good lines in the first 45 minutes of Trump’s speech, and it might have ended on a high note at that point. But then he spent another half-hour on the results of his own election and his grudges against Republican officials in Georgia, who he believes have not adequately backed his legal fight. On that issue, it’s pretty clear there is nothing he or any of his supporters can do. Why waste the time? Who’s interested?
Polls show Loeffler and Perdue up against two Democrats, Ralph Warnock and Jon Ossoff, respectively, who are highly competitive. And it comes after an election that saw Georgia go blue in a presidential election for the first time since 1992. That is the only thing that matters this week, and it was an opportunity for Trump to make a big difference. Did he? Eh…
