Atlanta’s Dem mayor: Trump would ‘eat his own children’ to advance his agenda

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The Democratic mayor of Atlanta apparently sees President Trump as a villain along the lines of Hannibal Lecter. 

Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms lashed out with graphic imagery against the president on Wednesday night as she discussed the importance of two runoff elections in Georgia in January that will determine control of the U.S. Senate.

Trump would “eat his own children” if it would help advance his agenda, Bottoms asserted in an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper.

The Nov. 3 elections pushed both of Georgia’s U.S. Senate races to a runoff election Jan. 5. In one race, Republican incumbent Sen. David Perdue faces a challenge from Democrat Jon Ossoff. In the other contest, Republican incumbent Sen. Kelly Loeffler faces a challenge from Democrat Raphael Warnock.

Joe Biden’s surprise win in Georgia has given many Democrats hopes of winning both U.S. Senate seats there as well – which could help the party take control of the chamber from Republicans, with Vice President Kamala Harris able to break ties in what would be a 50-50 between the two major parties.

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On Wednesday the “AC360” host had asked Bottoms if the president’s pursuit of voter-fraud cases in several states was perhaps in part an attempt to “rile up his base” to get them to the polls in January. He also sought Bottoms’ opinion on whether Trump’s actions might stir up Democrats’ enthusiasm as well, to come out against the president.

“How do you think it plays electorally?” Cooper asked.

Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms. (Getty Images)

“This has been a fascinating year, especially if you watch politics,” Bottoms responded, “to even see the Republican president turn on the Republican secretary of state [of Georgia], whom he’s endorsed, and if you watch his Twitter feed --- ”

“He’ll turn on anybody if the situation warrants it, it seems,” Cooper interjected.

“He will eat his own children, I’m sure, if he found it prudent,” Bottoms answered. “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. If you look at the transition, the lack of transition that’s happening, you look at our COVID numbers that are rising in this state and across the country, 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 Jan. 5 they will remember that because in Georgia, Joe Biden got a nice portion of Republican-leaning votes in this state and also many independent swing voters in this state went for Joe Biden and it’s our hope that will happen Jan. 5.”

On Wednesday, Trump declared the Georgia recount of its Nov. 3 votes to be “a joke,” and claimed it was being done “UNDER PROTEST.”

“Even though thousands of fraudulent votes have been found, the real number is in matching signatures,” the president wrote. “Governor [Kemp] must open up the constitutional Consent Decree and call in the Legislature!”

Hours earlier, more than 3,000 uncounted ballots were found in Georgia as the state continued its audit.

Later in Wednesday’s conversation, Cooper suggested to Bottoms that Democrat Stacey Abrams’ contentious defeat in the Georgia governor’s race in 2018 may have inspired more Georgia Democrats to vote this year but Bottoms said “a lot of things need to happen” between now and Jan. 5 in order for Democrats to have a chance of winning not one but two Senate runoff contests.

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She said some voters might not yet be aware of the Jan. 5 runoffs, or might not yet understand the connection between the Georgia races and the control of the U.S. Senate.

“It’s going to be a lot of work through January,” she said.

Earlier in the conversation, Bottoms acknowledged that African-American women voters played a significant role in Biden’s Georgia win – but claimed the Democrats shouldn’t rely on any single demographic group to win in January.