Clap for Trump - again in Georgia: Confidant fails with a bang in the primary

Created: 05/26/2022, 06:51

Ex-President Donald Trump in June 2021 © TASOS KATOPODIS/UPI Photo/Imago

Donald Trump's plan didn't work out in Georgia in the primaries: the candidate he supported had to concede a crushing defeat.

Atlanta - Donald Trump has not disappeared in the United States.

The question of whether he will enter the US presidential race again in 2024 continues to haunt.

There is no official statement from Trump, but the clues are pretty clear.

But not everything is going smoothly for the Republican.

In the primaries in the US state of Georgia, the candidate supported by Trump suffered a sensitive defeat on Tuesday (May 24).

Pro-Trump contender for the Southern state's governorship, David Perdue, conceded defeat as early split results saw him nearly 50 percentage points behind Conservative incumbent Brian Kemp.

Kemp's election victory had been expected, but not by such a margin.

Trump supporters suffer a bitter defeat: Ex-President criticizes Georgia governor

The defeated Perdue had presented himself as a particularly close Trump ally during the election campaign.

The former senator regularly repeated the former president's allegations of alleged massive fraud in the 2020 presidential election, which Trump lost to Democrat Joe Biden.

In this matter, primary winner Kemp knew Trump's anger: The governor had drawn it on himself because he refused to overturn the outcome of the election in Georgia in favor of the then president.

Trump has therefore regularly sharply attacked Kemp and placed himself behind his challenger Perdue.

On Election Day itself, Trump reiterated his support for Perdue and his criticism of Kemp.

Perdue is "a conservative fighter who is not afraid of the radical left," the 75-year-old ex-president wrote in a statement.

Kemp, on the other hand, "abandoned Georgia" and allowed "massive voter fraud."

"Kemp is a very weak governor."

Trump also spoke of voter fraud in Georgia in 2020 - which brought him a lot of arguments with responsible local Republicans.

Because employees went through the allegations neatly and refuted them point by point at the time.

Donald Trump's influence among Republicans: does fixation on alleged voter fraud hurt?

In the US, midterm congressional elections and a series of gubernatorial elections will take place in November.

Trump, who is still very popular with the conservative base, wants to use his power in the primaries and has expressed his support for Republican candidates who are loyal to him.

Parts of the party, on the other hand, are trying to push back Trump's influence.

Among other things, they fear that Trump's fixation on his 2020 election defeat and alleged voter fraud could hurt Republicans in the next election.

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Former Vice President Mike Pence openly sided with Governor Kemp in the Georgia primary - and thus indirectly against his former boss Trump.

Pence, who, like Trump, is said to have ambitions for a presidential candidacy in 2024, made a campaign appearance together with Kemp on Monday evening.

"I was for Brian Kemp before it was cool," Pence said in front of hundreds of supporters in the greater Atlanta area.

US primaries in Georgia and elsewhere: Trump candidates sometimes have to cope with defeats

Primary elections were also held in the states of Alabama, Arkansas, Minnesota and Texas on Tuesday.

In primaries in other states in recent weeks, candidates supported by Trump have had some successes, but there have also been defeats for the ex-president's camp.