Trump defends tariffs in pre-midterms appearance in battleground Georgia | Donald Trump
Donald Trump strongly defended his tariffs on Thursday, claiming that “tariffs are my favorite word in the dictionary” and promoting their use to boost American manufacturing at an event in northwest Georgia.
“If it weren’t for the tariffs, this country would be in deep trouble right now,” Trump said in a speech at Coosa Steel Corporation, a steel processing and distribution company in Rome, Georgia.
He lamented having to wait for the U.S. supreme court to rule on the constitutionality of trade policy, attributing the case to “China-focused” individuals and Canadian partisans.
“I’m waiting for a decision from the Supreme Court,” he said, complaining about having to “justify this because people are coming from other countries and ripping us off for 50 years.”
Trump’s visit to Georgia, a key battleground state in this year’s midterm elections, was ostensibly to shore up its economy despite lagging approval figures. But Trump spent much of his remarks focusing on repeated, unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud.
Trump has expressed reluctance to support Democrats’ Save America Act, which would restrict voting by mail, require voters to present photo identification at the polls and request proof of citizenship at registration. The legislation was passed in the House of Representatives last week, but is unlikely to move to the Senate before lawmakers end the filibuster.
“Democrats don’t want to give us voter ID because they want to cheat… They say they don’t want voter ID because it’s racist,” Trump said. “We want voter ID and proof of citizenship…they are fighting that.”
Trump also opposed mail-in voting, saying mail-in voting should be reserved for current military service members or people who are sick or away from home: “They’re rigging mail-in ballots.”
Mail voting fraud extremely rareand Trump has offered no evidence that Democrats fraudulently used the system to win elections.
Addressing the case that emerged from the FBI raid that seized 2020 election materials last month, Trump described the fight to return ballots to Fulton County control as despicable.
“Why don’t they want to see the ballots after all these years? Because they cheated,” he said. “They cheated like dogs”
A statement released after the raid revealed that the rationale for the investigation was based on debunked claims by conservative activists who had long denied the 2020 election results.
Trump chose the disputed site for Thursday’s visit: Marjorie Taylor Greene’s former district. The former U.S. representative’s resignation in January left open a seat where Republicans had a slim majority in the House of Representatives. Early voting is ongoing in the March 10 elections, and it seems likely that these elections will result in a runoff between the top two candidates in April.
Trump’s visit strengthened his support for former White House member Clay Fuller, who served as the district attorney for North Georgia and a reserve lieutenant colonel in the Air Force. The president’s support helped whittle down the field, which now stands at 18 candidates, including three Democrats. With divisions fading among Democrats, retired army general and 2024 candidate Shawn Harris is likely to advance to a runoff against the top Republican vote-getter.
Fuller, who attended Thursday’s event, praised Trump’s approach to the economy and “the war on inflation that President Trump has to inherit from President Biden.” He joked with Trump, who asked for forgiveness for his child who got in trouble for skipping school to attend the rally.
Trump also praised lieutenant governor Burt Jones, who recently ran for governor in a field joined by Rick Jackson, the billionaire founder of Jackson Healthcare. Trump said Jones “has been with you and me from the very beginning.”
Democratic National Committee chairman Ken Martin made a statement during Trump’s speech, stating that “due to Trump’s Big Ugly Bill and his refusal to extend ACA subsidies,” healthcare premiums for 1.4 million Georgians will double on average this year and 500,000 people will lose healthcare altogether.
Claiming that Democrats “in thrall” to insurance companies are pushing a Republican effort to redirect insurance subsidies into direct payments to beneficiaries, Trump said: “We’re lowering drug prices… we were paying the highest drug prices in the world and now we’re paying the lowest prices in the world.”
Trump also reiterated comments he made last month about an alleged deal with French prime minister Emmanuel Macron to raise drug prices in France following tariff threats on French exports. Macron vehemently denied this claim, writing on social media platform
