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GEORGIA, USA (VG) Donald Trump may end up in prison before the next election. Why is he still a favorite of many?
«Pro Life, God, Gun and TRUMP»reads a sign in the small town of Buchanan, in Haralson County, Georgia.
The gate is locked with a padlock. The homeowner is therefore a Christian, against abortion, swears by the right to bear arms – and votes for Trump.
The person is not alone in loving Trump in this neighborhood.
The county of Haralson is the electoral district where Trump did best in the entire state of Georgia, during the disputed 2020 election.
Now the deeply divided state is at the center of a political storm raging through the United States. Because it is in Georgia that the most serious of four indictments is directed against the former president.
Photo: Thomas Nilsson / VG
– The very, very most of them here votes for Trump. The indictments are not going to change that, says Matthew Kopacz.
He receives VG on the terrace under a large American flag, in a house a little further down the street.
– The more the government goes after Trump, the more important it becomes for us to vote for him, explains Kopacz.
The 40-year-old is not an ordinary Trump voter, because he has actually had personal knowledge of Trump, albeit many years ago.
– 20 years ago I worked for Trump. He was unstoppable then, and he is unstoppable now, says Kopacz.
– Besides, Trump is not what people think, he adds.
Photo: Thomas Nilsson / VG
Opinion polls suggests that support for Trump has actually increased following the indictments against him.
A compilation of national polls on the political website fivethirtyeight shows that Trump now has over 53 percent support among Republicans.
That makes Trump the clear favorite to become the party’s presidential candidate in 2024.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is the closest, but is far behind at 15 percent.
At the same time, support for incumbent President Joe Biden is falling. Measurements on Trump up against Biden varies greatly, but several show an almost dead run.
Trump loves to point to, and show off, polls where he leads.
Photo: Vincent Carchietta / Reuters / NTB
Good numbers despite: All four indictments against Trump could lead to long prison terms.
But that doesn’t change the perception among people in Haralson, county mayor Ronnie Ridley believes.
– Here the voters do not allow themselves to be scared away from Trump. We are working people. We are small town people. And we love Trump, he says.
The map of voting in Georgia shows a sea of red with some blue islands.
Red is the color of the Republican Party. Blue is the Democrats’.
The state capital Atlanta is blue, as are the electoral districts around other major cities such as Columbus, Savannah and Augusta.
All the counties outside the big cities are red. And the reddest is Haralson.
Georgia election results 2020, the numbers show Haralson. Photo: Politico
– That so many here voted for Trump, is something we are proud of, says county mayor Ridley.
He is himself elected for the Republican Party, but actually voted for the Democrats until the late 1980s, as did a majority of the electoral district.
– Why has it turned around?
– The Democrats give far too much in social assistance to those who do not want to work. And they tax ordinary working people so heavily that they can barely live, is Ridley’s explanation.
The county mayor believes the charges against Trump are politically driven.
– A former president has never before been prosecuted in this way. And then there are four indictments now that the election is approaching. Of course it’s political, county secretary Alison Palmer interjects.
Photo: Thomas Nilsson / VG
We look at the whole electoral history going back to the 19th century, Georgia has most often gone for the Democrats. But in the two decades before 2020, a majority consistently voted Republican.
In 2016, Trump won the state by a clear margin. In 2020, he lost by 0.23 percent, or 11,779 votes.
Refusing to accept the loss, he called Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and asked him to “find” 11,780 votes.
Raffensperger refused, and came out with an audio recording of the conversation.
The recording is now one of the most important pieces of evidence in the very serious case against Trump:
– Do you really believe Trump’s claims that there was election fraud in 2020? we ask the county mayor.
– I think perhaps the count itself was fair enough. But there were many irregularities. The Democrats registered the deceased as voters, to tilt the election their way, says Ridley with great conviction, despite the fact that that claim has been refuted several times.
– In any case, there were more than enough grounds to demand a more thorough review. And that was really just what Trump asked for in that conversation, adds Secretary Palmer.
Ridley and Palmer do not believe the charges against Trump are enough to stop him, and are confident that the controversial former president will win back the important swing state.
Most people we meet in the small town think the same.
Joel Robinson (48) eats “southern fried chicken” for lunch with his wife Leah (32) and grandfather Bobby (83):
Photo: Thomas Nilsson / VG
– Trump is coming to win anyway. The Democrats hope they can stop him through the courts, but he will sweep them aside, says Joel.
Grandpa Bobby has the strongest opinions:
– I am a “die hard” Republican. Trump may have done a few things I don’t agree with. But I’m an old man and I’ve seen presidents come and go. Every time there’s a Democrat in the White House, the country goes to the dogs, says Bobby.
The man standing behind the counter in the cafe is of South Asian origin, but Bobby doesn’t hold back and says what he means loud and clear:
– The Democrats are giving our country away to the immigrants. They open the borders. In big cities like Atlanta, work-shy lazy people stand on the streets with their hands outstretched to get alms from the state, he says.
Photo: Thomas Nilsson / VG
Leah doesn’t want to talk about politics. Then she just gets so excited, and “it doesn’t suit a woman”, as she says.
– But the election was rigged last time and Trump will win in 2024. I can say that for sure, asserts Leah.
The “real Georgia” can only be found in the countryside, say the three Trump supporters.
Before they drive off in their pickup truck, we ask why Georgia is such a divided state, where city and country definitely don’t go hand in hand.
– I wouldn’t live in Atlanta if they gave me the whole city, grandfather Bobby snorts.
– It might not be something you should talk about out loud, but you can see it. Inside Atlanta, the cultures are mixed, if you know what I mean, says Joel.
Photo: Thomas Nilsson / VG
Trump plays himself on many of the prejudices that exist against the state capital of Atlanta.
– Atlanta has become the world’s most dangerous city, Trump has said, and called the 52-year-old, African-American state attorney who has prosecuted him a “young, female racist”.
In Atlanta, especially downtown, there is a predominance of African Americans. In the countryside, it’s the opposite: In Haralson, 92 percent are white, according to previous census.
Georgia’s African-American residents voted overwhelmingly for Joe Biden, while where white Americans are in the majority, Trump won.
Trump is often accused of igniting racial tensions. But Matthew Kopacz, who worked for Trump as a young man, disagrees.
– I know for sure that Trump is not a racist, he says.
Then he pulls out a plastic folder with a huge T on it:
Photo: Thomas Nilsson / VG
The folder is from when Matthew worked as a photo model in New York as a young man, and was associated with Trump management.
Together with old model photos and contracts, the cover contains memories of a bygone youth.
The company was owned by Trump’s then wife, the now deceased Ivanka Trump. But in practice it was Donald Trump who was the boss.
– He who ran the company for Trump was a gay, black man. Trump got along great with him. How then can he be accused of being racist or homophobic?
Even though Trump was already a big celebrity in the early 2000s, he was nice to everyone, says Matthew.
– I met him several times. Trump was very gracious and treated everyone equally. That’s why I say he’s not what people think.
Photo: ELIJAH NOUVELAGE/AFP/NTB
Trump’s supporters view the charges against him as a witch hunt, explains Professor Scott Buchanan, who heads the Department of Political Science at Georgia College and State University.
– The Trump supporters have no trust in the Democrats or in the government at all. But they trust Trump and believe that he is treated unfairly, says the professor to VG.
Buchanan confirms the impression that the important see-saw state is deeply divided:
– White rural voters are still overwhelmingly Trump supporters, while black voters in Georgia almost exclusively vote for the Democrats.
Like residents of Haralson County, the professor does not believe that the new indictment in Georgia will weaken Trump’s popularity among his most ardent supporters.
– But some Republicans, especially in the suburbs, have become more skeptical of Trump in recent years. Then we are talking about voters from the upper middle class, who otherwise vote for other Republicans, but who walked away from Trump in 2020, says Buchanan.
– And precisely that dropout may increase after the serious indictments, he says.
Info
The indictments against Trump
On Monday 14 August, an indictment was brought against Donald Trump in the state of Georgia for attempting to undermine the election results in 2020. Several others are also covered by the indictment, including other former allies of the former president. The investigation was triggered by a phone call to state elections official Brad Raffensperger in January 2021. In it, Trump asked him to “find” the number of votes he needed to win. On Tuesday, August 1, 2023, Donald Trump was indicted for attempting to reject the election results from 2020 and the storming of Congress on 6 January 2021. The first court session was held on Thursday 3 August. The ex-president denies criminal guilt on all counts. Trump is also charged with violating the Espionage Act for taking classified documents with him after he resigned and moved out of the White House. He has pleaded not guilty in the case. The trial is scheduled for May 2024. The ex-president is accused of accounting offenses in connection with the payment of hush money to porn actress Stormy Daniels, who says the two had an extramarital relationship. Trump denies criminal guilt. The case is scheduled for March 2024.
(Kilder: The Guardian, Reuters, NTB)
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Published: 18.08.23 at 20:38
2023-08-18 18:38:44
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