Donald Trump holds his first meeting on Saturday night since his presidential defeat to Joe Biden, returning to the stands he loves so much in the state of Georgia, to campaign in a crucial by-election as she will decide the balance of power in Washington.
The Republican tribune risks playing a dangerous game in front of his supporters.
He who still refuses to acknowledge his defeat, almost a month after the official announcement, will he spend more time on stage crying fraud in a “rigged” system, or urging voters to mobilize to elect the two Republican candidates to the Senate?
In any case, his message is already scrambled, sowing doubt among his followers and worrying Republican officials.
Because the stakes are immense.
On January 5, two US Senate seats, now held by Republicans, will be played in Georgia.
If they lose them, the upper house will come under the control of the Democrats, because with 50 seats against 50, the future vice-president Kamala Harris will be able, as provided by the Constitution, to vote to decide the equality. And Joe Biden, who will be invested on January 20, will count on a fully Democratic Congress to roll out his program.
But if Republicans retain a majority in the upper house, the president will have to contend with a divided Congress, including the Senate having the power to block his nominations and major bills.
Accompanied by his wife Melania Trump, the outgoing president will hold a “victory reunion” at 7 p.m. in Valdosta, in rural Georgia, with outgoing Senators David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler.
“We have to work hard to make sure they win,” he urged this week.
But at the same time, he sprayed criticism on the authorities, even though Republican, in Georgia, because they refuse to reverse the result of the election, already verified and certified, which gave the victory to Joe Biden by a short lead of less than 13,000 votes in this conservative state.
Already referring to his new candidacy in 2024, Donald Trump insists that the signatures on the November 3 ballots must still be verified.
“I will win easily” after this verification, he tweeted again on Saturday, while some of his lawyers called outright to boycott the next polls.
“Already decided”
What to doubt the faithful Trumpists.
Why invest “money and work when it’s already decided,” a Georgia voter told Republican Party President Ronna McDaniel last week.
In the first round, David Perdue won more than 88,000 votes ahead of his Democratic rival Jon Ossoff. A large margin, but not enough to give him the more than 50% of the vote necessary to win in Georgia.
Kelly Loeffler, she was more than 300,000 votes behind her rival, Raphael Warnock, but she suffered in the first round from competition from another Republican, Doug Collins (980,500 votes).
On paper, the two Republican senators therefore leave victorious.
But with a now younger and more diverse electorate in Georgia, and Democrats galvanized by Joe Biden’s victory in that state that had not voted for a presidential candidate for their party since 1992, Democratic hopes are growing.
And all American political attention is turned to the “Peach State”.
“It’s not just about Georgia,” warned former US President Barack Obama on Friday, campaigning online for Democrats. “It’s about America and the world. ”
The same day, Republican Vice President Mike Pence was in Georgia, where he tried, with difficulty, to reconcile two electoral messages: contesting the victory of Joe Biden and mobilizing the Republicans: “We can fight for our president and to have more Republicans in the Senate at the same time. “
Joe Biden assured Friday that he would also be campaigning in Georgia, but without specifying the schedule.
Witness the importance of the stakes, already $ 315 million has been invested in the advertising campaigns of the four Senate candidates, according to the specialized firm AdImpact.
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