While vice president Pence is headed to Georgia on Friday to bolster Republican support as his party and Democrats battle for control of the U.S. Senate with runoff elections, the two GOP Senators in the race privately discussed Donald Trump during a conference call, calling him a political liability. And really, this race should be an easy one for Democrats since Sen. Kelly Loeffler was at the center of an insider trading investigation into the coronavirus-related stock trades, and Sen. David Perdue is a lying gasbag that would take away healthcare in a New York minute amid the raging pandemic.
But, it’s not an easy race, and the president isn’t going to like how Loeffler, Perdue, and others have described him. The Washington Post reported the call, writing that the “Most striking was the way the senators nodded toward the likelihood of Biden’s presidency. While Trump keeps insisting that he won the election, making baseless claims of voter fraud and mounting legal challenges, Republicans on the call privately cast those efforts as an understandable but potentially futile protest.” The outlet reports that Trump was described as the “likely loser” of the presidential election. Karl Rove, who is assisting with fundraising efforts, was also on the call.
‘Via the Post:
Perdue’s delicate approach — standing with Trump, but also privately acknowledging that the president’s time in power could be waning and that he carries possible political liabilities — extended to others on the call who tried to balance their loyalty to Trump with their apprehension about what is needed in Georgia to save the GOP Senate majority. It is revealing of the Republican dilemma in the winter of Trump’s presidency, with fear of offending him and his fervent supporters hovering over a cold political reality.
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“What we’re going to have to do is make sure we get all the votes out from the general and get them back out,” Perdue said of core Republican voters, according to the news outlet. “That’s always a hard thing to do in a presidential year, particularly this year, given that President Trump, it looks like now, may not be able to hold out.”
Perdue added that “we don’t know that” yet — but went on to say that he fully supports Trump and his dispute of the results in several states. However, he went on to say that, “we’re assuming that we’re going to be standing out here alone. And that means that we have to get the vote out, no matter what the outcome of that adjudication is on the recount in two states and some lawsuits, and others. Kelly and I can’t wait for that.”
Perdue said later that the runoff is about getting “enough conservative Republicans out to vote” in the Atlanta suburbs and elsewhere who might have opposed the president’s reelection, specifically any anti-Trump votes that may have gone to Biden.
“I’m talking about people that may have voted for Biden but now may come back and vote for us because there was an anti-Trump vote in Georgia,” Perdue said. “And we think some of those people, particularly in the suburbs, may come back to us. And I’m hopeful of that.”`
Meanwhile, Loeffler is concerned about the Democratic turnout.
“We think that Trump voters are going to continue to be very energized, and we don’t think we’ll have a problem with that,” Loeffler said. “But the question is about the Democrat turnout. We don’t know. We can’t take for granted that we’re going to keep everyone motivated.”
Karl Rove weighed in, noting Stacey Abrams’ efforts to get out the vote.
“We’re going to have a big issue with mail-in ballots that Stacey Abrams has been working for years,” he said. “Her apparatus is already geared up.”
Democratic pastor Raphael Warnock will face off Loeffler, who was appointed to the seat after Johnny Isakson (R) Isakson resigned for health reasons at the end of last year, while Jon Ossoff will face off with Perdue.
Sure, Trump has a dedicated base, but Georgia’s changing demographic turned the state blue with the president’s inadvertent help. And an impeached, one-term president that lost the popular vote twice, whose legacy will include nearly two hundred and fifty thousand dead Americans on his watch, should be a political liability.
You can donate to Jon Ossoff and Warnock here.
Featured image via DoD photo by U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Marianique Santos
