On Wednesday, President Donald Trump shared some advice to former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, who delivered the Democratic response to his State of the Union last night. That advice was given in what is certainly a collegial spirit of friendship and professional courtesy.
Just kidding! She probably scares him shitless.
Trump was asked about the potential for an Abrams’ Senate run in 2020 against Republican Sen. David Perdue, a race for which Senate Democrats have been reportedly recruiting her. “I think it’s a mistake for her to run against [GA Sen. David Purdue] because I don’t think she can win,” Trump told reporters from the Atlanta Journal Constitution.
“David Perdue is an incredible senator, if you remember, and will be very hard to beat,” Trump added.
This is not the first time Trump has offered an unsolicited opinion on Abrams’ political acumen. During last year’s run for governor against Republican Brian Kemp—which she very nearly won despite a wave of voter suppression and political sabotage—Trump called Abrams “unqualified” for the role, despite Abrams having a law degree from Yale and serving as the Democratic leader in the Georgia House of Representatives for the better part of a decade before her run for governor. Trump, meanwhile, based his career in politics on the fact that his daddy gave him a whole lot of money once, and the time he pretended to be a legitimate businessman on a TV show for a few years.
So if it’s not her qualifications, I wonder what else Trump might not like about Abrams? I’ll leave it to you to speculate on that one to yourself.
In any case, Trump continued to downplay Abrams’ credentials to the AJC, telling the paper:
I’d love for her to run for president. Why? Because so far I’m liking the candidates and she’d be another one I’d like. To run for president you’re supposed to have won, unless you’re a non-politician like me. I’d never ran. I’m one for one.
Trump’s renewed interest in Abrams comes just one day after she delivered a barn burner of a rebuttal to his lackluster State of the Union address, which felt something like taking a shot of ice cold, high-end vodka after spending the previous hour-plus being forced to do beer bongs with a case of lukewarm Coors.
Abrams has not yet said whether or not she plans to run agains Purdue in 2020—or Trump for that matter—but she did confirm to CNN in November that she’s “planning to get back into the ring.” And when she does, you can be sure that the president is going to have an opinion on it.