Republicans are sounding the alarm bells after President Trump’s phone call with Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.
Across the board, GOP officials directly involved in the race in Georgia and in Washington worry that the call, where Trump unsuccessfully pressured the secretary of state to “find’ votes that would tilt the balance in Trump’s favor, will foreshadow a ruckus rally Monday night.
They are convinced the President will spend far more time focused on his baseless electoral fraud claims as opposed to rallying his supporters to vote for the Republican ticket of David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler. He is set to participate in a rally tonight Dalton, Georgia,.
“The president’s ability to exceed expectations when it comes to how unhelpful he’ll be remains undefeated,” said one GOP operative working on the runoff.
It is a worry shared on the ground in Georgia. Republican leaders in the state have constantly quarreled with Trump over the administration of the election in November but shared with Trump a common desire to see Loeffler and Perdue elected. There is an increasing fear among those working with the GOP candidates that the President’s fixation on a losing campaign continues to drag on the runoff.
“That phone call did absolutely nothing to help, you know, drive turnout for Republicans here in Georgia, for Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue,” Georgia Lt. Governor Geoff Duncan told CNN. “I was disappointed and quite honestly, I can’t imagine anyone on that staff encouraging that call or not giving him the advice to hang up and move on to the next subject.”
Duncan said he would not join the President for the rally Monday night.
After the revelation of the call, many Georgia Republicans have given up all hope that Trump’s visit on Monday night will be a positive contribution to that effort.
“No one has any rational reason to believe it will go well,” said one Georgia Republican. “The likelihood of a total, complete, absolute shit show is off the charts. If disaster is avoided, it will be sheer dumb luck.”
On the phone call with Raffensperger, Trump cited the anticipated crowd for the rally Monday night in Dalton as evidence that he actually won the election in November.