Will the Georgia charges against Donald Trump affect his fight for a second presidency? Republican Party strategists fear: yes – and possibly even serious ones.
Donald Trump boasts that the lawsuits launched against him at the federal and state levels have added to his popularity: “Every time they bring an indictment, we go up in the polls,” the former president exclaimed at one campaign rally in Alabama in early August to cheering supporters shortly after Washington opened his third trial. “We need one more indictment to win this election.”
He now has this further charge. Fani Willis, prosecutor from Georgia’s capital Atlanta, accuses the 77-year-old in 13 counts of conspiring with allies to overturn the result of the 2020 presidential election in the southern state. However, Republican Party strategists doubt that the fourth trial will actually secure Trump’s re-entry into the White House – they even fear the opposite.
“The road to the White House leads through Georgia”
Should Trump prevail in the Grand Old Party primaries and face Joe Biden in November 2024, he would have to beat the president in key Georgia to secure another term, said four Republican strategists with experience in state politics the US broadcaster NBC News. Another year of incessant coverage of the indictments in local, national and international news is not helping.
As early as the 2020 presidential election, the “Peach State”, as Georgia is known because of its peach plantations, tip the scales for Biden’s success – which is why Trump tried so hard to turn the result around there. “In other states, the dung heap may be bigger, but it’s different in Georgia,” NBC quoted one of the Republicans who worked on the last statewide election campaign as saying. “The road to the White House is through Georgia.” The party strategist, like his colleagues, wanted to remain anonymous to avoid possible political retaliation from Trump and his allies, the broadcaster reports.
Experts and US media are largely in agreement that Trump’s legal problems cannot deter his core clientele. The polls also show that: The lead of the multiple accused over his rivals in the race for the Republican presidential candidacy has even increased in recent weeks. And when it comes to the presidential question, Trump and Biden remain close.
Ex-US President under pressure
Donald Trump has these legal problems on his hands
The poll numbers are also so good because voters simply don’t pay much attention to Trump, especially critical independent voters in embattled states like Georgia, the strategists point out. Reports on the indictments expected in the coming months could further distance moderate Republicans and independents in key regions like the Atlanta suburbs from Trump, three of the strategy experts said.
To make matters worse for Trump, cameras in the courtroom in Georgia are common and the trials are often televised live. The ex-president and his 18 accomplices will not only sit in the dock, but also in the living room of the TV viewers, where they have to be repeatedly accused of their alleged crimes for months.
Midterms are a bad omen for Donald Trump
As early as the midterm elections, Trump’s tale of the stolen elections had put off the people of Georgia, whose flag and seal bear the words “Wisdom, Justice, Moderation.” Republican governor Brian Kemp was able to clearly win the primaries against his challenger David Purdue, who was supported by Trump. And in the runoff for the last open Senate seat, Democratic incumbent Raphael Warnock beat Trump protégé Herschel Walker. Even within his own party, many more or less openly blamed Trump for Republicans’ unexpectedly weak midterm performance.
The charges against Trump would remind voters in traditionally Republican counties like Forsyth County, where the 77-year-old’s share of the vote fell six percentage points from 2016 to 2020, why they refused him their cross then, one of the strategists now predicts . “He’s just a net loser in Georgia. Period,” notes another.
Thomas Whalen, a professor of social sciences at Boston University, shares the view of Republican strategy experts. He doesn’t just see the accusations as a weakening of Trump, but as an existential threat to the entire party: “It won’t affect Trump’s Republican core voters, he’s a safe candidate for the Republican presidential candidacy at the moment,” Whalen explained to Boston University today”. “However, independent voters will not approve of recent events, so the election could end up in favor of Joe Biden and the Democrats – and in turn render the Republican Party irrelevant internationally.”
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Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
