He is trying to take his revenge on those who had resisted him: Donald Trump is once again calling into play his influence on the Republican Party during important primary elections in Georgia.
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It is in this American state of 10 million inhabitants, won by a hair’s breadth by Joe Biden in November 2020, that the Republican billionaire has been concentrating his efforts for a year and a half to try to prove that the presidential election was for him. “stolen” due to alleged “massive fraud”, never proven.
In this electoral soap opera, Donald Trump constantly castigates the role of Republican Brian Kemp, who refused to overturn the results of the 2020 ballot, and tries Tuesday to dislodge him from his post of governor.
“Drop it”
“Brian Kemp has let Georgia down,” he denounced again in a press release Tuesday morning calling on “Trump activists” in this state in the southeastern United States to oppose his candidacy in large numbers.
Instead, the ex-tenant of the White House offered his sponsorship to former senator David Perdue, much more fond of theories of “electoral irregularities”, in which millions of Americans still believe.
“David Perdue has my fullest support,” assured the former president on Tuesday, who injected more than 2.5 million dollars of his own campaign funds into the candidacy of this septuagenarian.
Will Donald Trump’s bet win?
This is far from certain.
Several experts assure that a certain form of weariness has begun to win over those who are still fighting to redo the 2020 match, more than 18 months after the election.
They cite an April poll by the University of Georgia that found nearly 60% of Republican voters say they are confident that next November’s midterm elections will be fair.
Donald Trump has invested much of his own political capital in the race and is playing big: a defeat for his candidate would raise serious doubts about the stranglehold he still has on his party.
“Before It Was Cool”
Mike Pence, the former vice-president of Donald Trump who is believed to have presidential ambitions, understood this well.
The 60-year-old, who like Brian Kemp refused to block the certification of Joe Biden’s presidential victory, traveled to Georgia this week to personally campaign for the governor candidate.
“I supported Brian Kemp before it was cool,” he said from a small airport in suburban Atlanta.
In addition to choosing a gubernatorial candidate, Georgia voters are also called upon to vote on a host of local seats. And each time, it’s a version of the match between these two types of candidates – those who prevented the overthrow of the 2020 election against those who cry fraud – which is replayed.
At the heart of all desires, the post of Secretary of State of Georgia, the person responsible for overseeing the smooth running of the elections and of which many Americans were probably unaware of the existence before the last presidential election.
And for good reason, Brad Raffensperger, the man who had refused to “find” nearly 12,000 ballots in the name of Donald Trump despite a stunning phone call from the billionaire, is risking his job.
According to the latest opinion polls, he is neck and neck with Jody Hice, a man backed by the former president who – like dozens of others across the country – promises to ‘restore integrity’ polls in the United States.
