Grievance-filled Donald Trump turns spotlight on himself

Donald Trump came to Georgia to campaign for two Republican senators but instead turned the spotlight on to himself.

Donald Trump and daughter Ivanka Trump depart from Marietta, Georgia. Picture: AFP

Donald Trump came to Georgia to campaign for two Republican senators but instead turned the spotlight on to himself, complaining of how he had won the election ‘‘in a landslide’’ and of how Joe Biden was ‘‘stealing the White House’’.

In a grievance-filled rally in the small northwest city of Dalton, Mr Trump took aim at a vast array of people he said had contributed to the ‘‘rigged election’’, including Republicans and Democrats, Georgian officials and even the Supreme Court.

Mr Trump opened what may be his final rally as President by­ declaring to the crowd: “There is no way we lost Georgia, there is no way, that was a rigged election but we’re still fighting it.

“When you win in a landslide and they steal it and it’s rigged, it’s not acceptable ... I had two elections, I won both of them, it’s amazing, and I actually did much better in the second one.’’

Mr Trump was speaking ahead of a two critical run-off Senate elections on Wednesday (AEDT) that will determine which party controls the US Senate.

The contests in Georgia pit Democrat candidates Jon Ossoff, 33, and the Reverend Raphael Warnock, 51, against incumbent ­Republican senators David ­Perdue, 71, and Kelly Loeffler, 50.

Democrats need to win both races to secure a 50-50 split in the Senate, which would give them control of the chamber because the deciding vote in any deadlock would go to the vice-president, ­Kamala Harris.

Joe Biden, right, rallys with Democratic Senate candidate Jon Ossoff. Picture: Getty Images

The President held his rally in heavily pro-Trump Dalton in an attempt to persuade more Republicans to vote, but Republican leaders are worried that the President’s focus on electoral fraud in the state will dampen turnout among Republicans, who may have been persuaded that the state’s election system is rigged.

“Tomorrow each of you are going to vote in one of the most important elections in the history of our country — it’s a biggie,’’ Mr Trump ­said to rapturous cheers

“Together we are going to ­defeat the Democratic extremists and deliver a thundering victory.’’

Still, he spent much of his speech railing at length about the ‘‘rigged election’’. He warned of an electoral backlash against any Republicans who refused to join a minority group of senators planning to challenge Joe Biden’s election victory in congress this week.

He ­described the Supreme Court as a disappointment for not doing more to overturn the election outcome.

Mr Trump also labelled as ‘‘crazy’’ Georgia’s Republican Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger, who resisted pressure from the President at the weekend to ‘‘find’’ enough votes to overturn Mr Biden’s victory in the state.

Mr Biden also campaigned in Georgia, urging Democrats to vote in a contest that will have enormous implications for his presidency. “The power is literally in your hands. By electing Jon and the reverend, you can break the gridlock that has gripped Washington,” he told a rally in Atlanta.

“You can change America, so if you haven’t voted, vote.’’

He also attacked Mr Trump’s efforts to reverse the outcome of the presidential election, saying: ‘‘Politicians cannot assert, take or seize power. Power has to be given, granted, by the American people. It’s always the will of the people that must prevail.”

Polls in Georgia show the two Democrat candidates with small, but statistically insignificant leads over the incumbent Republicans. Republicans traditionally win run-off Senate contests in Georgia, but the demographics of the state are changing in favour of Democrats, with Mr Biden having won the traditionally Republican state by 12,000 votes at November’s presidential election.

Democrats have also been buoyed by strong early voting, especially among Democrat-leaning African-Americans, with three million ballots already cast before voting day. These early votes are expected to favour Democrats but Republicans are expected to turn out in force across the state on Wednesday (AEDT).

Georgians go to the polls as fallout continues from Mr Trump’s phone call with Mr Raffensperger in which the President urged him to ‘‘find’’ enough votes to allow him to overturn Mr Biden’s win.

A top election official in Georgia, Gabriel Sterling, lashed out at the President, saying he was undermining faith in the state’s electoral system with falsehoods.

“This is all easily, provably false, yet the President persists, and by doing so undermines Georgians’ faith in the election system,” he said.

The controversy prompted former president Barack Obama to tweet that the stakes in the Georgia election ‘‘could not be higher’’.

“We’re seeing how far some will go to retain power and threaten the fundamental principles of our democracy. But our democracy isn’t about any individual, even a president — it’s about you,’’ Mr Obama tweeted.

Divisions are also growing among Republicans over the plan for at least 12 Republican senators and more than 100 congressmen to oppose the formal certification of Mr Biden’s election victory in congress on Thursday (AEDT).

Many senior Republicans have criticised the move, which will be easily defeated in both houses but will force a debate on the issue.

Prominent Republican senator Tom Cotton joined the ranks of those opposing any move to try to challenge the result, saying it would establish unwise precedents. “(It) would take away the power to choose the president from the people, which would ­essentially end presidential elections and place that power in the hands of whichever party controls congress,” he said.

Other leading Republican senators, including majority leader Mitch McConnell, Lindsey Graham, Mitt Romney, Ben Sasse and Patrick Toomey, have also ­opposed any challenge.