Trump rally filled with grievances, falsehoods
Former President rallies with GOP candidates in Commerce, GA
Former President Donald Trump rallied in Commerce, Georgia on Saturday, where he touted his hand-picked slate of Republican candidates, ramped up his war of words with one-time ally Gov. Brian Kemp, and doubled down on unfounded conspiracy theories surrounding the 2020 presidential election.
Trump took to the stage at around 8:15 P.M. on a windy Saturday night. He started throwing Make America Great Again hats into the crowd as he stepped onstage.
Reporters who attended the rally immediately took note of the small crowd size. Greg Bluestein, who covers Georgia politics at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, described it as “the smallest crowd I’ve seen at a rally of his in Georgia since he won the 2016 election.”
The Trump campaign responded early Sunday morning by falsely claiming that there as many as 35,000 attendees.
The former President has so far endorsed seven Republican candidates in Georgia:
Herschel Walker, U.S. Senate
David Perdue, Governor
Burt Jones, Lieutenant Governor
Jody Hice, Secretary of State
John Gordon, Attorney General
Patrick Witt, Insurance Commissioner
Vernon Jones, Congress (GA10)
Other prominent Georgia Republicans also made appearances at the rally, Andrew Clyde and Marjorie Taylor Greene, two controversial members of Congress from North Georgia. Greene went on a bizarre rant against U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, saying the he and his husband can “stay out of our girls’ bathroom.”
Former U.S. Sen. David Perdue, who trailing in fundraising and polling in his challenge to Gov. Brian Kemp, used the rally to publicly embrace conspiracy theories about the 2020 elections. “Thanks to Brian Kemp, our elections were absolutely stolen,” he exclaimed without evidence. At one time, he appeared to give a thumbs up when supporters started chanting “lock him up,” referring to Gov. Kemp.
Senate candidate Herschel Walker’s remarks largely centered around culture war issues. The first issue he touched on was transgender rights in sports. “Let’s get men out of women’s sports,” he said. “If you’ve ever seen me play, I can play. If you’ve ever seen me fight, I can fight.” He never mentioned Trump by name in his stump speech.
Trump’s remarks were a continuation of the many grievances and falsehoods he has been parroting since the 2020 election. He also doubled down on his disdain for Georgia Republican officials, many of whom he endorsed in 2018.
Most of his shots were aimed at Kemp, who he attacked for being a “RINO” (Republican In Name Only). It is worth keeping in mind that the Governor, unlike the former President, has been a conservative Republican for his entire adult life.
Trump described Kemp as a “complete and total disaster” and predicted that he could drag down most of the Republican slate in the November elections — including Walker.
He even went as far as to predict that Kemp “will go down at the ballot box” in November if he emerges victorious in the May primary.
Turning his focus to the 2020 elections, Trump claimed that there are “left-wingers” running Georgia’s elections and appeared to allude to a rematch with Biden in 2024. “I ran twice, I won twice, and I did much better the second time,” he said. “And now, we just may have to do it again.”
Trump also delved into foreign policy and attacked the Biden administration for its response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. He even made a prediction that China could soon invade Taiwan. “It’s a very good possibility,” he said.
“One hour in, Trump starts dropping profanity into his remarks, going on and off the teleprompter, occasionally adlibbing about NATO, John Kerry, gas prices, grocery prices, his book sales, shopping at Tiffany, Democrats’ spending levels, and ending COVID mandates.”
Many view the former President’s increased focus on Georgia as a huge risk. Several of the candidates he has endorsed are virtually unknown and are considered underdogs in their respective primaries. If many of his candidates are defeated in May, it could be seen as a sign that his influence in Republican primaries is starting to diminish.
Georgia-based Bloomberg columnist Conor Sen posed an interesting question on Saturday: could this be the last Trump rally in Georgia? He noted that Trump lost the state, both Senate runoffs, his rally crowds are getting smaller and that Perdue is trailing in the primary for Governor. “You start to look like a chump and a loser after a while,” Sen tweeted.
Trump’s full remarks can be watched here.