COVID-19 vaccine and humans on Mars: 5 takeaways from Trump’s rally in Macon

President Donald Trump left Macon on Friday night after delivering a nearly two hour long speech that covered topics from immigration to gun rights.

Trump continued to talk about the coronavirus vaccine, candidates running in Georgia elections, landing a person on Mars and even, what he would do if he lost the election.

Here are five key takeaways from the Trump rally, including from speeches that prominent Georgia Republicans gave at the event.

The COVID-19 vaccine

Although Trump said the coronavirus vaccine has been delayed partially because of political reasons, he said the FDA will be approving a vaccine soon and 100 million doses will be available by the end of 2020.

Trump touted his administration’s response to the pandemic saying it has saved millions of lives although more than 200,000 Americans have died from the virus.

Scientists and vaccine manufacturers have said that only a handful of vaccines could be available by the end of the year, but a vaccine will not be available for mass distribution until the middle of 2021, according to a New York Times article.

At the very earliest, vaccine experts estimated that the general public won’t have access to the vaccine until February 2021, and they more than likely won’t receive the vaccine until July or August of 2021.

Trump backs two Georgia candidates

At the end of Trump’s speech, he turned to leading Republicans from Georgia and congratulated them for what they have done for the state, including Sen. Kelly Loeffler and Rep. Doug Collins, who are competing against each other for Loeffler’s Senate seat.

After telling Loeffler she’s done a great job, Trump said he is backing both Loeffler and Collins for the Senate seat in the special election.

Loeffler and Collins have been battling each other trying to prove they are a “tough conservative fighter,” while their Democratic opponent, the Rev. Raphael Warnock, makes the most gains in the polls.

At an event for Black voters in Atlanta in September, Trump encouraged the two candidates to keep fighting.

“I sort of like it. You wanna know why? They’re gonna be in there fighting, fighting, fighting. Don’t anybody get out, and everybody’s gonna come with them, and the only thing I know for sure, they’re all gonna vote for me,” Trump said at the September event.

An astronaut on Mars

At the end of Trump’s two hour long speech, he wrapped up what it meant to vote Republican in the coming election, which included the fact America would be the first nation to put an astronaut on Mars.

“A vote for Republicans is a vote for safe communities, great dreams, and for the American Dream,” Trump said. “America will be the first nation to land an astronaut on Mars.”

Under NASA’s Artemis program, NASA will send the first woman and next man to the moon in 2024 to establish a permanent human presence there and test tools and equipment for a mission to Mars, according to NASA’s website.

However, NASA doesn’t plan to send people to Mars until 2033 and some experts believe that timeline is around 30 years too optimistic, according to The Atlantic.

Perdue ‘mispronounces’ Kamala Harris

Sen. David Perdue spoke at the rally ahead of Trump’s speech, and during his speech, he mispronounced vice presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris’ name, saying, “Kah-mah-la? Kah-ma-la? Kamala-mala-mala? I don’t know. Whatever...”

Perdue has served in the Senate with Harris since 2017. His Democrat opponent for the Senate seat, Jon Ossoff, quickly called Perdue out on Twitter for mocking Harris.

Perdue’s campaign communications director John Burke tweeted a response which said, “Senator Perdue simply mispronounced Senator Harris’ name, and he didn’t mean anything by it. He was making an argument against the radical socialist agenda that she and her endorsed candidate Jon Ossoff are pushing, which includes the Green New Deal, Medicare-for-all, raising taxes, and holding up COVID relief for the people of Georgia.”

Ossoff tweeted Saturday that he had raised $1 million since Perdue’s speech. He said he raised more than $1.8 million by Sunday evening with more than 42,000 donors, according to an Atlanta Journal-Constitution article.

What if Trump loses?

At the rally Friday, Trump briefly mentioned what he would have to do if he lost the election.

“Running against the worst candidate in the history of presidential politics puts pressure on me. Could you imagine if I lose?” Trump said in his speech. “I’m not gonna feel so good. Maybe I’ll have to leave the country? I don’t know.”

Trump has told this joke at other campaign events, including one in North Carolina, which former Vice President Joe Biden’s campaign featured in a video on its social media, according to The Hill.

This story was originally published October 21, 2020 at 5:00 AM.