Georgia Republicans are in the middle of a civil war, and a big new Washington Post article on the relationship between Donald Trump and Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp shows just how squarely responsibility rests on Trump’s shoulders. The Post headlined the article "Inside the ‘nasty’ feud between Trump and the Republican governor he blames for losing Georgia," but this is not a feud. This is Donald Trump being a vindictive bully who cares only about himself.
And in this case, that’s fine.
Trump has reportedly been cool on Kemp since late in 2019 when Kemp failed to kiss the ring, choosing Kelly Loeffler for a Senate appointment without asking permission. Then, well, Trump lost Georgia, and Kemp refused to illegally overturn the election result, and now it’s a full-blown grudge on Trump’s part. Kemp is “worse than a Democrat,” Trump said on Fox & Friends. At a Georgia rally, Trump singled out Rep. Doug Collins, who lost the Senate primary but then went on to work hard, if unsuccessfully, to help Trump overturn the election. “Thank you, Doug,” he said. “What a job he does. You want to run for governor in two years? Yeah. Good-looking governor.”
Kemp plans to run for reelection in two years. This is his payment for campaigning relentlessly for Trump.
He’s not the only Georgia official to draw Trump’s ire, either. Trump called the state’s attorney general to berate him, as he has done to Kemp, for not breaking laws to overturn the election. That call came after Trump first lit into Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler and Perdue pointed him in the direction of the attorney general. That wasn't the only time Perdue and Loeffler responded to Trump’s attacks by throwing other Republicans in their state under the bus, either.
And the thing is, Georgia Republicans are not exactly un-Trumpian. They’re trying to stack the deck against Democrats Jon Ossoff and Rev. Raphael Warnock in the January Senate runoffs—and against Georgia voters more generally. They’re preparing a big voter intimidation campaign. But they failed to deliver the state to Donald Trump, and that’s all he really cares about.
Ready to reach voters in Georgia, whether by phonebanking or textbanking, for the Jan. 5 runoff? Click to sign up for a training with Fair Fight—the voting rights group founded by Stacey Abrams—and they will set you up with what you need to start effectively reaching out to Georgia voters.
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