Donald Trump has committed to a rally in Georgia next week ahead of the Georgia runoff to support the reelection campaigns of Senators Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue. During a normal election cycle, this would not be news, but 2020 has been everything but ordinary. Days before Trump reluctantly decided to continue to support the embattled Georgia senators, longtime Trump loyalist and lawyer Lin Wood sought to destroy their reelection hopes.
Without evidence, Wood has alleged that voting machines provided by Dominion Voting Systems in the general election switched votes from Donald Trump to President-elect Joe Biden and has since demanded that Republicans boycott the upcoming Georgia election. Wood has also accused Loeffler, Perdue, and Georgia Governor Brian Kemp of participating in election fraud against Trump.
Wood has received severe backlash from several top Republicans who view his and lawyer Sidney Powell‘s attempts to boycott the election as dangerous. Wood and Powell have been unable to support their claims or bring forth any evidence in their lawsuits. Former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich tweeted earlier this month, “Lin Wood and Sidney Powell are totally destructive. Every Georgia conservative who cares about America MUST vote in the runoff. Their don’t vote strategy will cripple America.”
Wood has been undeterred by his GOP detractors and perhaps emboldened by Trump’s silence on his antics and Trump’s embrace of Powell. Wood sent an infographic calling for a boycott of the GA runoff based on his conspiracy theory that Dominion Voting Systems voting machines changed votes from Trump to Biden. On that same infographic, Wood attacked the Georgia GOP establishment, stating, “the Georgia election fraud committed by anti-Trump RINOs (Republicans In Name Only) Brian Kemp, Kelly Loeffler, and David Perdue against President Trump and Doug Collins was accomplished using the Dominion Voting Systems Algorithm.”
The purpose of the boycott is to expose Dominion’s vote-changing algorithm, and Wood believes, “The fraud will be so obvious, SCOTUS can then invalidate the presidential election. Real conservative senators can then be appointed, after Kemp, Perdue, and Loeffler’s arrest.” These allegations have led to a defamation lawsuit against Powell, Trump’s re-election campaign, Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani and various news outlets.
In an election that will decide which party controls the Senate and, in turn, which policies Joe Biden will be able to enact at the start of his presidency, Republicans are in a civil war. Due to infighting over election fraud claims led by Trump and being aggressively amplified by Wood, the reelection chances of Perdue and Loeffler are slipping away, as most recent polls show them falling behind their Democratic challengers.
