Former President Trump on Tuesday tried to pump some energy into former Sen. David Perdue’s (R-GA) campaign amid the Trump endorsee’s poor performance in polls heading into the Georgia gubernatorial Republican primary race against incumbent Gov. Brian Kemp (R).
In a new statement, Trump went after Kemp, who the former president has continuously attacked for refusing to subvert the 2020 election results in Georgia. Trump cast the Georgia governor as someone who “caved” to Democrats when Trump tried to get him to overturn the results.
“Brian Kemp has failed Georgia,” Trump said before pushing election fraud falsehoods. “He caved to Stacey Abrams before the 2020 Election and allowed massive Election Fraud to take place.”
Trump went on to call Kemp a “very weak” governor for not doing his bidding.
“Kemp has been a very weak Governor — the liberals and RINOs have run all over him on Election Integrity, and more,” Trump said. “Most importantly, he can’t win because the MAGA base — which is enormous — will never vote for him.”
The former president then reiterated that Perdue has his “Complete and Total Endorsement.”
“He will not let you down!” Trump said.
With polls suggesting Kemp is on his way to defeat his challenger in the race, Trump is reportedly having regrets about backing Perdue. Last week, NBC News reported Trump’s been privately griping about Perdue’s lackluster campaign. That report also suggested that Trump didn’t plan on making any personal appearances in Georgia to campaign for his endorsee.
Trump’s statement comes just as his ex-VP Mike Pence appeared at a rally supporting Kemp on the eve of Georgia’s GOP gubernatorial primary.
“When you say yes to Brian Kemp tomorrow you’ll send a deafening message across America that the Republican Party is the party of the future,” Pence told the crowd Monday night.
Although he broke with Trump in the race, Pence praised the policies of the Trump administration, slamming the Biden White House for some supposed “tidal wave of left-wing policies” that have “stifled the American economy.” Neither Pence nor Kemp called out Trump by name, but instead aimed their attacks at presumptive Democratic nominee Stacey Abrams, whom Kemp narrowly defeated in 2018.
Meanwhile, Perdue held a dueling rally on Tuesday night, which Trump didn’t bother to show up for. The former president opted instead to call into the event. Perdue thanked Trump on the call and told the former president, “You’re the best, boss.”
Trump and Pence have reportedly not spoken in almost a year, after Trump put his ex-Veep’s life in danger when he attacked Pence for not decertifying the 2020 results on Jan. 6, 2021.
