Donald Trump would “eat his own children” if it could help him politically, Atlanta’s mayor claims.
Keisha Lance Bottoms spoke out this week against the president and his involvement as Georgia finishes up a hand recount of the election results. Joe Biden narrowly won the state, but Trump and his allies have made unfounded claims of fraud, and some top Republicans have been accused of interfering. Georgia’s Republican Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger, said that South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham pressed him to find a way to toss out legally cast ballots. This has led Trump and some close to him to speak out against Raffensperger.
As the Associated Press reported, Trump spent the weekend attacking the secretary of state, saying that he was a “Republican in name only.” The top Georgia GOP official shot back, saying that Trump’s efforts to discourage people from using mail-in ballots by claiming they would be ripe for fraud likely depressed his own turnout and led to some of his supporters staying home.
Appearing on CNN, Bottoms spoke out about the intra-party tension. When host Anderson Cooper noted that Trump had previously endorsed Raffensperger, the Atlanta mayor said that loyalty has meant little to the president. She claimed he would turn on anyone if it would benefit him politically, with even his own family likely not safe from his wrath if the situation warranted.
“He will eat his own children, I’m sure, if he found it prudent,” she said in the clip, which was shared on Twitter . “But he’s now picking a fight with Brian Kemp, also the governor who he was closely allied with. And so it’s my hope that even if people did not vote for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris that they will be so disappointed and disgusted by this behavior.”
Bottoms used the scuffle to boost her own party’s chances in a pair of critical races that will take place early next year. Both of Georgia’s seats in the U.S. Senate were on the ballot in November, but no candidate crossed the 50 percent threshold, sending both to runoffs that will take place on January 5. If Democrats were to win both races, their caucus would move into a 50-50 tie, giving them control of the Senate as Vice President-elect Kamala Harris would be able to cast tie-breaking votes.
“There’s so many reasons not to be supportive of Donald Trump at this point and any candidates who are aligned with him. So it’s my hope that when people go back to the polls on January 5, they will remember that,” she said.
