Fox News contributor Geraldo Rivera criticized President Donald Trump as being “on the wrong course” for continuing to focus on election fraud contentions to the potential detriment of GOP candidates in Georgia.
Republican Georgia Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler face Democratic challengers Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock in a January 5 runoff election. If Republicans win one of two seats, they will maintain control of the Senate for the next two years.
While Trump has stated his support for the GOP Senate candidates, Rivera expressed concern that the president’s focus on election fraud could dissuade Republican voters in Georgia, one of whom asked Republican National Committee chairwoman Ronna McDaniel over the weekend about whether the election was “already decided.”
“If people lose faith in Georgia’s electoral system and not show up then they’ll be gifting the Democrats control of the United States Senate,” Rivera told Fox News anchor Martha MacCallum on Monday night’s “The Story.” “The stakes are so very high. They are astronomical.”
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“As a person who has been accused of giving the president too much of the benefit of the doubt, I can’t imagine why the Republican senators aren’t rallying around the Georgia Republicans, the secretary of state and the governor there and saying that the system in Georgia will work,” he continued. “You’ve got to vote. Everything is at stake here.”
Rivera argued that attacking the election system “undermines faith in the system” and “discourages people.”
“I think that the president is on the wrong course here,” he added. “I think he’s got to take a real gut check between now and Saturday. With all due respect, and you know I love the guy. But enough is enough now.”
The Fox News contributor, a longtime friend of the president, expressed his sympathy for the “profound blow” to a “very proud man” who lost a close election, but advised him to “rally the voters in Georgia.” (RELATED: Super PAC Launched By Trump Jr. Aides To Help Republicans In Georgia)
“Control of the Senate is in the balance now,” Rivera concluded. “And if he allows his personal, you know, annoyance with the secretary of state and Governor Kemp to rule, then I think it’s gonna be a devastating loss for the Republicans.”