- The Washington Times - Monday, January 4, 2021

President Trump returned to the campaign trail Monday night for Georgia’s two Republican senators, and immediately declared he will “fight like hell” against the election results that have certified the victory of President-elect Joseph R. Biden.

“There’s no way we lost Georgia,” Mr. Trump said as he took the stage in Dalton. “That was a rigged election, and we’re still fighting it, and you’ll see what’s going to happen. I had two elections, and I won both of them, it’s amazing.”

The crowd of thousands chanted “Stop the Steal” and “Fight for Trump!”

Mr. Trump said he’s not finished contesting the election, pointing to a vote in Congress on Wednesday to count the presidential electoral votes. Several Republicans in the House and Senate plan to object to Mr. Biden’s votes, including Georgia Sen. Kelly Loeffler, who faces a runoff election on Tuesday.

“I’m complaining about eight different states, and I think we’re going to win them all,” Mr. Trump said. “When you win in a landslide and the steal it and it’s rigged, it’s not acceptable. They’re not taking this White House. We’re going to fight like hell.”

Mr. Trump said of a possible run again in 2024, “I’m not interested in four years [from now]. I’m interested in like eight weeks ago. Four years is a long time.”

The president also quickly put the spotlight on Vice President Mike Pence, who will preside over the vote-counting in Congress as president of the Senate. Mr. Trump and his allies have been calling for Mr. Pence to take a decisive role in the vote-counting and to reject votes from states where the Trump campaign has alleged voter fraud.

“If he doesn’t come through, I won’t like him quite as much,” Mr. Trump said. “I hope Mike Pence comes through for us, he’s a great guy. He’s going to have a lot to say about it. One thing you know with him — you’re going to get straight shots.”

Traditionally, the vice president’s role in the process is simply to open envelopes containing the electoral votes of each state and hand them over to a staffer for counting.

Mr. Trump also singled out Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, who attended the rally, questioning whether the lawmaker will support him in objecting to Mr. Biden’s vote totals on Wednesday. Mr. Lee hasn’t declared his intentions.

“And I just want Mike Lee to listen to this when I’m talking, because you know what we need his vote,” the president said.

The president also complained about election irregularities and questionable vote totals in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Arizona, and Nevada — all states that Mr. Biden won. He said his supporters in Congress will lay out a long list of fraudulent vote totals from the battleground states on Wednesday on the floor of the House and Senate.

Republican Senate candidate David Perdue of Georgia, who is under quarantine for possible COVID exposure, addressed the crowd by video. He said Democrats want to implement a “socialist agenda” including the elimination of private health insurance.

“Simply put, we win Georgia, and we save America,” Mr. Perdue said.

Ms. Loeffler and Mr. Perdue are in runoff elections on Tuesday against Democrats Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff. The two races will determine which party controls the Senate this year.

Mr. Trump said the Democrats want to turn the U.S. “into Venezuela, with no jobs, no prosperity, no rights, no freedom, no future.”

“They’ll massively raise your taxes on the middle class to pay for socialism,” Mr. Trump said.

He said if Democrats win on Tuesday, “America as you know it will be over, and it will never, I believe, be able to come back again.”

“These senate seats are truly the last line of defense,” Mr. Trump said. “In a way, the world is counting on the people of Georgia. You must deliver a Republican victory so big that the Democrats can’t steal it or cheat it away. We have all seen what our opponents are capable of doing.”

Most of the president’s campaign stop dwelt on his own race. Mr. Trump’s appearance came two days after he pressed Georgia Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in a phone call to “find” nearly 12,000 votes to change the election results and give him the win in the state. Mr. Raffensperger refused, saying the election results are accurate and that the Trump campaign’s claims of widespread fraud are erroneous.

The president on Monday night called Mr. Raffensberger “wacky,” and repeated his claims of election fraud in the state. He said the cheating by Democrats was “more than enough to swing the election to us.”

“Right here in Georgia there were tens of thousands of illegal votes cast,” Mr. Trump said. The president alleged that more than 10,000 votes were attributed to dead people, and more than 4,000 votes were cast by people who don’t appear on state voter rolls. He said 66,000 votes were cast under the legal voting age of 18.

Mr. Trump again called for an audit of Dominion voting machines in the state.
“The crime that was committed in this state is immeasurable,” the president said.

Georgia election officials said Monday that Mr. Trump’s erroneous claims of election fraud are suppressing turnout in the Senate races. State officials say nobody under age 18 voted in the presidential election, and that voters cannot vote without being registered.

They reiterated again on Monday that nothing in their findings would come close to changing 11,000 votes, and that allegations of Dominion Voting Systems machines “flipping” votes for Mr. Biden are untrue.

The state has conducted a hand recount of the balloting and verified Mr. Biden’s win.

Gabriel Sterling, a Republican who is the state’s voting system manager, said Monday that all of the president’s claims of election fraud are “provably false.” He said alleged shredding of ballots “is not real, it’s not happening.”

Mr. Trump also slammed Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, whom he has criticized for failing to stop alleged voter fraud.

“I’ll be here in about a year and a half campaigning against your governor,” Mr. Trump said.

The president again criticized the Supreme Court, which has rejected two election lawsuits filed by Mr. Trump and his allies challenging the results in battleground states.

“I’m not happy with the Supreme Court. They’re not stepping up to the plate,” Mr. Trump said. “If you’re the president of the United States and you get defrauded out of the election, you should be able to file a suit. They say I don’t have standing. What kind of legal system is that? The Supreme Court has let us down so far.”

• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.

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