In Georgia, the former president had Mr. Kemp one of the top priorities after the governor refused to help undo the results of the 2020 election. However, Mr. Trump was not very consistent: Kemp’s rival he chose, the former Senator David Perdue, had initially hesitated to question Mr. Biden’s victory in Georgia and only became more vocal about it after entering the governor’s career.
Former Chief Strategist President Stephen Bannon warned Mr. Trump not to support Mr. He lost and pushed him to support Vernon Jones, according to people familiar with the conversation. Mr. Bannon argued that Mr. Jones, a former Georgia MP who had been repeatedly accused of abusive behavior toward women, was the strongest candidate, however, because Trump supporters believed that Mr. Loss on election fraud was not genuine.
The former president declined to acknowledge a recent poll showing that Mr. Perdue was going to an overwhelming loss. Although some polls showed Mr. Kemp ahead by about 30 points, Mr. Trump told Mr. He lost in a phone call last week that he believed victory was imminent.
“We’ve never lost a career,” Mr. False said. Trump on his record of approvals, according to a person informed of the conversation.
As chairman, Mr. Trump meticulously tracked his approval record and portrayed each victory as a barometer of his own popularity. White House political aides worked with Republican leaders in Congress and state officials to gather approval briefings to guide Mr. Trump and provide railings to prevent him from acting on some of his impulses.
Since leaving the White House, however, Mr. Trump has maintained a much more limited political infrastructure and his approval process has been less methodical. He has resisted efforts to impose order in his decision-making and seeks advice from a number of informal advisers and aides, many of whom are being paid by candidates hoping to gain the support of the former president.
The governing impetus in the endorsements of Mr. Trump seems to be his determination to remain relevant.
At a meeting earlier this year on a hotly contested primary, some advisers suggested that Mr. Trump could be staying out of the race. He made it clear that it was not an option.
“If I do that,” Trump said, “they’ll just say they won without me.”