President Donald Trump's first political rally since losing his reelection bid is ostensibly to urge support for the Republican incumbents in Georgia's two runoffs that will decide which party controls the Senate at the start of Joe Biden’s administration.
But the question remains whether Trump will really try to help his party or use the Saturday night event in Valdosta to amplify his conspiratorial and debunked theories of electoral fraud.
Republicans are worried that if Trump does the latter, their voters will think the system is rigged and decide to sit out the two Jan. 5 races. They want Trump to tell people directly and forcefully to vote.
FILE - In this Nov. 13, 2020, file photo Republican candidate for U.S. Senate Sen. Kelly Loeffler speaks at a campaign rally in Cumming, Ga. Loeffler and Democratic candidate Raphael Warnock are in a runoff election for the Senate seat in Georgia. (AP PhotoBrynn Anderson, File)
The president’s aides publicly scoff at the idea he might do anything other than encourage Republicans to back Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler as they try to withstand Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, respectively.
"I believe it’s the start of these two senators crossing the finish line,” White House press secretary Kelly McEnany said on the eve of Trump’s visit. McEnany credited Trump with being his party’s biggest turnout driver, noting that Republicans narrowed House Democrats’ majority while several vulnerable Republican senators survived challenges by comfortable margins.
Trump's base “is behind him all the way,” she told Fox Business Network. “He is the head of this movement, make no mistake, and that will not be changing.”
Attorney Lin Wood fires up supporters during a "Stop the Steal" rally in Alpharetta, Ga., Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2020. (Ben GrayAtlanta Journal-Constitution via AP)
But after two pro-Trump lawyers this past week questioned whether voting again is even worth it -- in echoes of the president’s baseless accusations of widespread voter fraud -- even Vice President Mike Pence betrayed concerns that the Republican coalition could crack under the force of Trump’s grievances.
“I know we’ve all got our doubts about the last election, and I hear some of you saying, ‘Just don’t vote,’” Pence said Friday while campaigning with Perdue in Savannah. “If you don’t vote, they win.”
Republicans need one more seat for a Senate majority. Democrats need a Georgia sweep to force a 50-50 Senate and position Vice President-elect Kamala Harris as the tiebreaking majority vote.
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger shows off voter registration postcards that were sent to his deceased son as he makes remarks during a press conference at the Georgia State Capitol building in Atlanta, Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2020. (Alyssa PointerAtlanta Journal-Constitution via AP)
Few Republicans in Washington or Georgia believe wide swaths of the electorate in this newfound battleground would opt out of voting because of Trump’s false claims or his denigration of the Georgia governor and secretary of state for certifying Biden’s victory in the state.
The risk for the GOP is that it wouldn’t take much of a drop-off to matter if the runoffs are as close as the presidential contest: Biden won Georgia by about 12,500 votes out of 5 million cast. There’s enough noise to explain why Pence felt the need to confront the matter head on after two Trump loyalists floated the idea of the president's supporters bailing on Perdue and Loeffler.
“I would encourage all Georgians to make it known that you will not vote at all until your vote is secure — and I mean that regardless of party,” lawyer Sidney Powell said this past week at a suburban Atlanta “Stop the Steal” rally.
FILE - In this Nov. 4, 2018, file photo, then-Georgia Republican gubernatorial candidate Brian Kemp, left, walks with President Donald Trump as Trump arrives for a rally in Macon , Ga. President Trump said Sunday, Nov. 29, 2020 he was “ashamed” for endorsing the Republican governor of Georgia after he lost in the state to Democrat Joe Biden. Trump said on Fox News that Gov. Brian Kemp has “done absolutely nothing” to question the state’s results.. (AP PhotoJohn Bazemore, File)
Atlanta celebrity lawyer Lin Wood, who’s filed thus-far unsuccessful court challenges to Biden’s victory, insisted to Trump's supporters that the state's elections are “rigged.”
Trump’s team has recently tried to dissociate itself from the pair but only after they were given a prominent platform in the flailing effort to overturn the presidential election results. Moreover, Trump personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani returned Thursday to the Georgia Capitol for a marathon hearing that featured yet another airing of disproved claims.
Trump has been the source of party angst with his recent declarations that Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp is “hapless” and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger is an “enemy of the people” because they didn't block Biden’s Georgia victory. State law gives them no avenue to do so.
It's resonated with voters such as Barry Mann, a 61-year-old business owner who came to hear Pence in Savannah. Mann hasn’t decided whether he’ll vote for his senators a second time.
“I think there’s some issues with our election and more investigation needs to be done,” Mann said, adding that he doesn’t think Perdue and Loeffler have done enough to support Trump’s efforts to overturn the results. “I want see what happens between now and January,” Mann said.
A third vote count, this one requested by the president’s reelection campaign, was nearing completion. Raffensperger could certify the election again as soon as Saturday; the result is not expected to change.
Tim Phillips, president of the conservative Americans for Prosperity, played down the idea that there are enough voters like Mann to cost Perdue and Loeffler. Phillips' group has about 200 field workers canvassing across Georgia.
After his own door-knocking shift Friday, Phillips described the GOP’s pool of potential voters, especially in rural and small-town areas, as largely "voters who aren’t so much Republicans or even conservatives, but they love Trump.” That loyalty, he said, allows them to “hear two different messages” from Trump.
“He may say some things about the governor or other people, but the dominant message is that he’s down here for Perdue and Loeffler,” Phillips said. That should be "enormously beneficial.”
Associated Press writer Russ Bynum in Savannah, Georgia, contributed to this report.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden White House wants voters to know its differences with Republicans over taxes, with a top aide making the case for higher rates on corporations and the ultra-wealthy.
Lael Brainard, director of the White House National Economic Council, will deliver remarks at the Brookings Institution on Friday that get at the major tax challenge for whomever wins the November presidential election.
Many of the 2017 income tax cuts signed into law by then-President Donald Trump are set to expire after next year. If all the tax cuts expire, then the vast majority of U.S. households would see their payments to the IRS increase. But if all the tax cuts are extended, then another $4.6 trillion would be added to the national debt over the next decade, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
Trump, a Republican, says tax hikes would destroy the U.S. economy. But President Joe Biden, a Democrat, wants to extend the middle-class tax cuts while raising taxes on highly profitable companies and the richest sliver of Americans.
“The expiration of Trump’s 2017 tax package next year will put tax fairness front and center,” Brainard plans to say, according to draft remarks obtained by The Associated Press. “The president is honoring his ironclad commitment to not raise taxes on anyone making less than $400,000 and will cut taxes further for workers and families, paid for by asking corporations and those at the top to contribute more."
In the draft of her speech, Brainard says the 2017 tax cuts failed to deliver the growth promised by Republicans. She argues that they let wealthy households play by their own special set of rules that let them pay lower rates than many people with middle-class earnings.
Her speech uses variations on the word “fair” 16 times in what is a clear attempt to raise awareness of the issue, as many voters are more focused on inflation, immigration and foreign policy as major policy challenges for the country.
Trump has argued that the expiration of all of his tax cuts would cause mass layoffs that could permanently cripple the economy. His remarks reflect a belief that growth stems from the choices made by companies and wealthy investors, whereas Biden is betting on growth flowing out of spending by middle-class households that feel more financially secure.
Trump's 2017 overhaul cut the corporate tax rate to 21%, intending to make it more competitive internationally. The law also temporarily cut the income taxes paid by most U.S. households, in part by trimming marginal tax rates and increasing the standard deduction.
As a result of these changes, the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center initially estimated that a family in the 40th to 60th percentile of earners would on average save $930 annually. But someone in the top 1% would get back $51,140 and those in the top 0.1% would save $193,380.
Even though Biden has said he only wants higher taxes on the wealthy and companies, Trump tells his supporters at rallies that his Democratic rival would raise everyone's taxes.
The Republican maintains that the high inflation under Biden as the country recovered from the coronavirus was the equivalent of a tax increase, one he claims would only worsen if Biden stays in the White House.
“Biden wants to raise taxes on top of that (inflation) and raise business taxes, which will lead to the destruction of your jobs and, you know what, ultimately it’s just going to lead to the destruction of the country,” Trump said.
Yet Trump also favors some huge tax increases of his own, having floated a 10% tariff on roughly $3 trillion worth of imports annually.
A March analysis by the liberal Center for American Progress estimated that companies would pass the tariffs directly on to their customers, causing a typical family to pay $1,500 more a year, a de facto tax hike.
Also, extending all of Trump's tax cuts that are set to expire at the end of next year would carry a substantial price tag.
In a Wednesday report, the Congressional Budget Office estimated it would add another $4.6 trillion to budget deficits through 2034. That sum includes the additional interest being paid from the higher national debt.
Brainard in her speech says Biden's tax plan reflects his commitment to “fiscal responsibility.” Still, it's not clear how he would lower the deficit as much as advertised in his budget proposal for next fiscal year.
Biden's plan from earlier this year assumed all of Trump's tax cuts would expire. That means it does not include the cost of extending the tax cuts for those making under $400,000, a promise that could erode most of the $3.2 trillion worth of deficit reductions in his plan.
“President Biden is trying to have it both ways,” said Brian Riedl, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and a former Republican congressional aide. “On the one hand, Biden says he will kill the Trump tax cuts and claim all resulting deficit reduction. But on the other hand, he says he won’t let the tax cuts end for the bottom 98%. And those contradict each other.”
Republicans could also face a challenge in continuing the 2017 tax cuts without putting the government's finances in worse shape.
The prospect of higher debt means lawmakers might need to float possible spending cuts, said Paul Winfree, a former deputy director of the Domestic Policy Council during Trump's presidency. Higher debt loads could lead to higher interest rates, which would flow down to consumers in the form of more expensive mortgages and auto loans.
“I just don’t know how we can talk about extending all the cuts without also reducing spending,” said Winfree, president and CEO of the Economic Policy Innovation Center, a think tank. “If the federal government continues to spend money at this rate, it will put continued pressure on interest rates.”
FILE - The Internal Revenue Service 1040 tax form for 2022 is seen on April 17, 2023. The IRS said Friday, April 26, 2024, more than 140,000 taxpayers filed their taxes through its new direct file pilot program. It says the program's users claimed more than $90 million in refunds, saving roughly $5.6 million in fees they would have spent with commercial tax preparation companies. (AP Photo/Jon Elswick, File)
FILE - A sign outside the Internal Revenue Service building is seen, May 4, 2021, in Washington. The IRS said Thursday, May 2, 2024, it's taken steps to address a wide disparity in audit rates between Black taxpayers and others filers. And the agency is more closely examining the returns of larger numbers of wealthy people and major companies. The IRS says in an annual report that it's overhauling compliance efforts as it strives to “hold ourselves accountable to taxpayers we serve.” (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)
President Joe Biden delivers remarks on his "Investing in America agenda" at Gateway Technical College, Wednesday, May 8, 2024, in Sturtevant, Wis. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
