New FBI raid part of Trump's campaign of retribution: analysis

After the United States' 2020 presidential election, President Donald Trump was furious when Joe Biden flipped five states that Trump had carried in 2016: Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan, Wisconsin and Arizona. And Trump claimed, without evidence, that all of those states were stolen from him through widespread voter fraud.

Trump, in 2026, continues to make that claim, which was repeatedly debunked by vote recounts. And FBI agents recently searched voter records at an election center in Georgia, inspiring some commentators to wonder why Trump targeted that state rather than one of the other four states that Biden flipped in 2020.

Slate's Shirin Ali, in an article published on February 3, lays out some reasons why the Peach State is a high priority for Trump and his allies.

"One big question looming over this entire episode…. is why — of all the states where Trump falsely claimed there was fraud in 2020 — has Georgia become Ground Zero for the president ahead of the 2026 midterms that election experts feel are potentially threatened by Trump's latest actions?," Ali reports. "We think we have a few answers. Those answers have to do as much with 2026 as they do with 2020. And, perhaps surprisingly, a big motivation for Trump's assault on Georgia's election infrastructure now has as much to do with the Republican primaries in the state as with November's general election."

Ali goes on to note that Georgia's gubernatorial race "is considered a toss-up, though Republicans have consistently held the job since 2002."

"Polling has shown the top Republican contenders are Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and Georgia Lt. Gov. Burt Jones," Ali explains. "Trump has endorsed Jones, who served as a fake elector in 2020 and was tied up in Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis' election interference investigation, which charged Trump and several co-conspirators with a criminal conspiracy to steal Georgia's 2020 election. Jones has focused his campaign on attacking Raffensperger over that election."

The recent FBI search, according to Ali, is connected to the GOP infighting that occurred in Georgia after the 2020 election. Raffensperger and Gov. Brian Kemp, both conservative Republicans, maintained that Biden won the Peach State fair and square — much to Trump's chagrin.

"As part of this vendetta," Ali writes, "Trump even made Kemp and Raffensperger prime targets during the 2022 elections, trying to inspire his MAGA base to vote them both out of office. At the time, he failed miserably. Now, though, it seems that Trump has found a new way to try to punish Raffensperger. The Trump Administration is undoubtedly going to use the baggage surrounding Georgia's voting system to cast doubt on its 2026 elections and possibly beyond, with the FBI's recent raid evidence that this is already underway."

Ali adds, "Georgia provides a three-for-one, from the Trump perspective: He gets to again question the legitimacy of the 2020 election; he gets to again cast blame on Raffensperger, his 2020 antagonist in the state; and he gets to potentially meddle with an election which he desperately wants Raffensperger to lose."

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