Trump pushes Loeffler, Perdue among criticism of presidential election
In a meandering, nearly two-hour speech -- speckled with baseless claims of voter fraud, misleading statements about court cases and assertions he will be serving a second term -- President Donald Trump pushed for Georgians to get out on Jan. 5 for the runoff election that could determine control of the Senate.
With 48 Democrats (and liberal independents) and 50 Republicans, wins from Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue would lock up another two years of GOP control. If their opponents, Rev. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, respectively, win then Vice President-elect Kamala Harris would cast the deciding vote.
"Georgia patriots must show up and vote for these two incredible people," Trump said. "And I'm telling you, they're two of the finest people you'll ever meet. We can fight for the presidency and fight to elect our two great senators."
Trump spoke out against Republicans boycotting the runoff, saying the "radical left" would win if that happened.
The president tied the Democratic candidates to regular conservative targets like Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and even Beto O'Rourke. He also repeatedly attacked Stacey Abrams, a former Georgia governor candidate, who helped organize Democratic voters and swing the state blue.
At one point, Trump even went on a tangent saying he did not want to attend the rally and didn't like helping other people. Oddly, he never explained what changed his mind.
"David and Kelly called and said, 'Will you do a rally?' I said, 'Not really,'" Trump regaled the crowd, referring to staffers coming to him to ask about doing the rally. "I said -- when they asked -- I don't do it for other people. It's a lot of work to do a rally."
Loeffler and Perdue were finally invited on stage to speak over an hour into the president's rally. Each spoke for only a minute or two before Trump took the microphone again.
Trump then went back to discussing the alleged transgressions against him in the presidential race. He went on to show a lengthy video of right-wing news media touting already debunked claims of fraud.