Trump Just F*cked Himself and His Party in Georgia

Published: Jan. 5, 2021, 5 a.m.

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Things were already sub-ideal for the president and his Republican party in the Peach State.


The GOP\\u2019s incumbent senators, who in any normal year would be locks for re-election, both have a habit of shady stock trades. The early vote has been huge, and breaking Democrats\\u2019 way. Then came the instantly-infamous call between Trump and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger\\u2014the one where the president asked to dig 11,000 votes or so out of the trash pile.


For Trump, the news may get worse. One end of the call took place in Fulton County, Georgia, where Fani Willis was just elected district attorney. \\u201cShe prosecutes without fear or favor. And her folks are looking at that call closely,\\u201d Daily Beast editor-at-large and Georgia political veteran Goldie Taylor explains on The New Abnormal\\u2019s first show of 2021. \\u201cDonald Trump\\u2014and anybody else in that room, helping him\\u2014could very well face charges here in Georgia, in Fulton County. Charges that they cannot make go away.\\u201d 


I didn\\u2019t have to be like this, of course. \\u201cIf Donald Trump had just shut his mouth, he probably would have sailed to reelection. If he just shut up and handled COVID right. Georgia, he would have sailed in. This primary here in Georgia, he wouldn\'t have a problem,\\u201d Taylor tells Molly Jong-Fast.


But this president can\\u2019t help himself. He attacked the Republican establishment for not bowing to his election fraud conspiracies. And this was a party that for decades was a \\u201cjuggernaut\\u2026 they have had control of the state lock stock and barrel because they were just more highly organized,\\u201d Taylor says.


Now, they\\u2019re anything but. \\u201cThe President of the United States can\'t stop attempting, consciously or unconsciously, to screw this election up for this party. And he\\u2019s just, in new and different ways, tried to throw obstacles in and [Sen. David] Purdue and [Sen. Kelly] Loeffler\\u2019s way,\\u201d says Sam Brodey, The Beast reporter who broke many of the biggest stories about their pair\\u2019s financial shenanigans. 


Trump keeps railing about how Georgia\\u2019s November election was totally rigged\\u2014and it sure seems to be having an effect in the January election, where many die-hard Trumpists say they\\u2019re not sure they trust the system enough to vote. 


Loeffler and Perdue may still win, of course; they\\u2019ve got history on their side. But \\u201cthere is this Republican civil war that is playing out in Georgia and the candidates are having to fight against that,\\u201d Brpdey continues. \\u201cThis has an impact. A huge segment of voters in this state hang on every word that the president says. And like after a certain point, he\'s saying this every day, so it will have an impact and we\'ll find out what it is.\\u201d


Because today is election day in Georgia.


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