David Perdue Not On This Year’s Nice List

December 23, 2020

ATLANTA — Today, the Democratic Party of Georgia shines a light on Senator David Perdue’s record of corruption, reckless actions, and bigotry that has landed him on the naughty list this year. 

Here’s the top five reasons David Perdue failed to make this year’s holiday nice list:

1. Making “shady” stock trades in industries he oversees and lying to Georgians about having control over his portfolio

A brutal CNN analysis revealed that in just the five years Perdue has been in office, he’s conducted 2,560 stock trades –– more than “the next seven most prolific Senate stock traders combined,” suspiciously trading, buying and selling stock in industries his committees “directly oversee.” Local and national press have blasted Perdue for his “well-timed” stock acquisitions amid new questions that have arisen since federal investigators exposed Perdue for lying to Georgians about having personal discretion over his stock trades.

2. Downplaying the threat of COVID-19 while profiting from the pandemic

As the Senate received a private briefing on the deadly effects of the novel coronavirus in January, millions of families were in danger of losing their jobs, health care or small businesses –– yet rather than devoting his full attention to protecting working Georgians, Perdue chose to conduct “heavy [stock] trading” just as the coronavirus outbreak was beginning to spread across the country. Perdue stood by President Trump as the outbreak first began, saying the risk of the virus remained low, telling Georgians the economic impact would be little, and even comparing COVID-19 to a bad flu season.

3. Lying about his record of voting to gut protections for people with pre-existing conditions

Perdue’s campaign has repeatedly lied about his record of undermining health care, asserting that he “supports coverage for those with pre-existing conditions” even after a PolitiFact fact-check exposed Perdue’s claims to support protections for people with pre-existing conditions as “False.” Perdue came under scrutiny for “obscur[ing] [his] position on pre-existing conditions” and running away from his record of voting to completely repeal the Affordable Care Act along with touting his support for the Republican lawsuit to strip away protections for nearly 2 million Georgians with pre-existing conditions.

4. Making bigoted attacks against Jon Ossoff and Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris

Perdue was forced to pull down an ad accused of using “longstanding anti-Semitic tropes” that three graphics design experts confirmed digitally “lengthened and widened” Jon Ossoff’s nose, “even as other parts of his face stayed the same size and proportions.” Perdue’s campaign blamed an outside vendor and never took responsibility, but instead called himself the victim. Perdue later came under fire for making a “cheap, racist joke” toward Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris by mocking her name at a rally in an attempt to echo Trump’s divisive rhetoric. Along with nearly a dozen local elected leaders from across the state of Georgia hammering Perdue for his bigoted remark, President-Elect Joe Biden slammed Perdue, saying his purposeful mockery of Harris’ name has “got to stop,” and that Perdue will “try to degrade everything and everybody.”

5. Doubling down on reckless conspiracy theories endangering Georgians’ safety

State election officials slammed Perdue for being “complicit” in harassment and threats against election workers after weeks of Perdue failing to condemn baseless claims regarding Georgia’s election results. When Georgia’s voting systems manager called on Perdue to condemn the dangerous behavior that has led to death threats, Perdue’s spokesperson responded by refusing to apologize for “addressing the obvious issues with the way” Georgia conducts its elections.

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