President Trump posted a pair of Tweets 12 minutes apart on Tuesday morning that neatly encapsulated his presidency and me-first approach to the Georgia Senate runoff elections.
In the first, at 9:50 a.m., the president praised Kelly Loeffler, an endangered Republican who had initially declined to support Mr. Trump’s baseless challenge to the general election, for agreeing “to fight the ridiculous Electoral College Certification of Biden.”
Then, at 10:02 a.m., he gave Ms. Loeffler and the other Republican on the ballot, David Perdue, his most enthusiastic support to date after a week of suggesting his supporters might not vote in the runoff because the election was “invalid.”
“Georgia, get out and VOTE for two great Senators,” he wrote. “So important to do so!”
That was the kind of statement the two campaigns wanted two weeks ago. Instead, party officials believed Mr. Trump’s relentless claims of voter fraud had suppressed early voting in some Republican areas of the state.
Ms. Loeffler initially dodged questions about whether or not she would back a House and Senate challenge to the Electoral College’s certification of Mr. Biden’s win. But on Monday night — just before Mr. Trump appeared at a joint rally for both candidates in Georgia — she issued a statement saying she would “support the objection to the Electoral College certification process.”
Mr. Perdue’s objection is procedurally irrelevant — his term expired over the weekend — but Ms. Loeffler will remain in office until the winner of her race is declared, and she is eligible to vote.
