President Trump on Saturday night spent a lot of his Valdosta, Georgia, rally for Sens. Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.) and David Perdue (R-Ga.) pushing unfounded claims of election fraud, and otherwise veering far off topic, but he did intermittently make it clear that he wanted Republicans to head to the polls on Jan. 5 and vote for the two senators, both of whom are facing Democratic challengers.
If the Democrats win, Trump said, "we will have total Socialist one-party control," warning of "draconian military cuts," a "war on American energy," and the end of religious liberty. Therefore, he wants Republicans to "show up and vote in record numbers" next month, despite any distrust in the electoral process they may have.
"The answer to the Democrat fraud is not to stay at home ... they can only win if they cheat," Trump says after an hour of whining about rigged elections pic.twitter.com/oen2l9R68Y
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) December 6, 2020
There was concern among some Georgia Republicans that Trump's focus on widespread fraud allegations — for which he and his legal team have been unable to provide any evidence — would discourage rally attendees from casting their ballots in the runoffs, but at least some members of the crowd appeared convinced they should vote, The Wall Street Journal reports. "We were worried about voting, but we're going to show up," one rallygoer told the Journal. "Otherwise, what are we going to do, let them win by a landslide?" Read more at Bloomberg and The Wall Street Journal.
