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The outcome of the runoff elections in Georgia is a severe setback for the Republicans and is due to Donald Trump.
Before, during and after the presidential election, he systematically cast doubts about the electoral system and fantasized about “election fraud” and a “stolen election”.
He massively attacked fellow party members in Georgia, such as the governor and election officer.
As usual, it split instead of one.
So it is understandable that some Republicans stayed at home now.
But above all, Donald Trump mobilized the supporters of the Democrats with lies and conspiracy theories.
In Georgia, Joe Biden had won two months ago.
Since then, Trump has been claiming the opposite, as usual fact-free.
How must a democratic voter feel since then?
Some people voted democratically on Tuesday to punish the outgoing president for his absurd victory thesis.
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Donald Trump also inflicted great damage on the Republican Party - to their applause.
Had he had the size to admit defeat to Joe Biden, the Republican campaign would have been a lot easier.
Americans love the “checks and balances”.
A rational Republican Party could have argued in a captivatingly simple way: there will soon be President Joe Biden, a Democratic government, a majority of Democrats in the House of Representatives.
That is precisely why we need a counterweight, precisely why we must defend the Republican majority in the Senate.
This is the only way we can prevent left-wing politics.
Trump's talk of “electoral fraud” did not allow this convincing argument.
He gambled high and lost high.
Most of all, however, it damaged the institutions of democracy, their unwritten rules and norms.
Nothing else could be expected from Trump.
The big shame is that large parts of the Republican Party still support this policy.
In Georgia, voters have given their verdict.
A rational republican party could have argued impressively simply after Trump was voted out, writes Daniel Friedrich Sturm
Source: Alex Brandon, AP / dpa / Claudius Pflug