Donald Trump Fought. Brian Kemp Won.
This week’s Courier Herald column:
“At least he fights.” That’s the popular capitulatory phrase used by supporters of President Donald Trump when they have been boxed in to an admission that the former President’s actions are harmful to the execution of his policies or to the long term standing of the Republican party.
The problem with absolving all actions by expressing the desire to have someone fight is that there’s a fine line in promoting someone to use their power to protect your interests and enabling a bully. It’s hard to determine exactly when this line was crossed, but it was well before Georgia’s “unique” Republican primaries.
They were unique in that this was a battle within the loose federation known as the Georgia GOP. Those at the top of the official party structure remained feckless lest they be booted from national circles, still within the firm grip of the various Trump-related grifting machines. Georgia’s statewide elected officials, from Governor Kemp on down, were largely left to fend off the attacks from within the party themselves.
The downward spiral of purpose for the Georgia GOP did not start with Donald Trump. Once an organization that was quite self-aware that it was and is “the establishment” – a term that means “we won” – it’s become more and more popular within the Georgia GOP to work against their own elected officials.
Senators Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson were booed 15 years ago at the State Republican Convention in Augusta for having the temerity to explain to the crowd what they were doing in Washington to fulfill their elected roles. There were numerous attempts by the body to “censure” Governor Nathan Deal while he was on the way to rebuilding Georgia’s economy after the great recession, addressing Georgia’s last in the nation status in per-capital transportation spending, and remaking Georgia’s criminal justice system from an embarrassment into a national model for both the left and the right.
Some people aren’t happy unless they’re unhappy, and they gather at GOP meetings across the state. They’ve been fed a steady diet of red meat aimed not at the opposing party, but at those within their own party with their sleeves rolled up, doing the hard work and making the tough decisions required in governing.
The 2022 primary season was the logical conclusion to this path. A former President and an admitted sore loser decided to scratch his own anger and stoke that of others by taking on those who had the audacity to move on and govern without him.
Trump decided to fight. It’s what he does.
He came to Georgia twice to declare that Stacey Abrams wouldn’t be much different that Governor Kemp. Republican voters, having lived through the past 3 years, knew better.
They’ve lived through Abram’s grifting campaign that allowed her organization to fundraise by demagoging Georgia’s reformed voting laws as “voter suppression”. Georgia lost the MLB All Star game over it, and received months of negative national press. Georgia’s turnout in the primaries showed record voting numbers for midterm elections.
They’ve lived through a pandemic where Governor Kemp received constant chiding for his actions from the state’s largest media outlets, while those same outlets continued to point to “Emmy winning” Governor Cuomo in New York as the model of what Georgia should be emulating. Governor Kemp sent the Georgia National Guard to assist nursing homes. Cuomo sent infected patients to nursing homes.
Meanwhile, Governor Kemp re-opened Georgia and got our state back to work, again facing criticism. Two years later, the state is experiencing record employment and economic activity.
The state’s economic health has been punctuated in the last few months by not one, but two automobile manufacturers deciding Georgia is the place to be for the industry’s high tech future. Georgia is not only one of the best state’s in the nation to live, but it remains the number one state to do business.
The Friday before the election, many of those attending the announcement that Hyundai would invest over $5 Billion in rural Georgia landed at the same airport while David Perdue was having a rally with former Governor Sarah Palin. The comparison of those who have been working to improve Georgia’s future for Georgians against those who just want to boo and fight could not have been more stark.
One group was standing still making noise. One group was on their way to create jobs.
Donald Trump fought, but so did Governor Kemp. Governor Kemp has had to fight a noisy and permanently disgruntled faction of his own party while fighting a constant and well-coordinated attack on Georgia by Abrams and her allies within large media outlets.
One of those fights was settled on Tuesday. It was Kemp by a knockout.
About Author
Charlie
Founder of GeorgiaPol.com; Now weekly columnist Very interested in Georgia and Georginas. Interest in politics is waning daily.
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“They’ve lived through Abram’s grifting campaign that allowed her organization to fundraise by demagoging Georgia’s reformed voting laws as “voter suppression”.
Of course, there’s been steady R pushback against the ideas that the voting bill passed last year was in fact unncssry, with the nice ribbon that look, #s are up, so there’s your proof that the bill didn’t impact turnout. Except– that’s not the way the legislation the really went, and at least those of us here on this site know it. If I can remember correctly, we can remember the virulence of the first draft(s) of the bill, to which not even a plurality of R legislators objected to – until there was voter empowerment efforts taken- through lawsuits, corporate outreach, advocacy efforts, etc.. Offhand, I remember but one lone story of R objection until the economic and political consequences were a bit more tenuous. So, thank you, Ms. Abrams, and all others, who helped the addled understand some basic realities and demonstrate some actual common sense. I am glad the bill in fact wound up creating more early voting- that perhaps is something that may have impacted the total turnout. Also- there could have been backlash against the general proposition that Rs even tried. Not just randomly floated the idea- but passed through committee, even, yes?
I can’t remember it all offhand, except the intent at the very outset of the effort was clear. And just bc some of it cleared up gives little room for credit. And it certainly doesn’t justify an attack against those who perceive legitimate threats to their electoral rights, whether anyone wants to say No they’re not meant as threats or not. Feeling afraid of losing rights or liberty is not just something to be dismissed, and those concerns could have been addressed by (gasp) compromising intentionally, prior to intense public pressure. Feeling afraid of losing rights or liberty is something we should all just be sensitive to, on every issue.
I take Charlie’s comments about Abrams as showing how worried gopers are about her candidacy. After all, if she wins a lot of them will have to get a real job for the first time in 20 years.
State population is increasing so we should expect voting totals to go up too, right? Even if that basic conclusion is ignored, the fact that voter outreach programs can be effective is not an argument that there aren’t efforts to suppress turnout.
In a kind of clear way, I see the personal nature of anti-Abrams attacks as the same symptom of personality-cult-like politics that reflects the Trumpist mindset. On one hand, you can be for somebody at all costs, no matter the lies told, based upon the belief in the person, and on the other, you can be against someone, no matter the lies told about them, based upon the belief in hating certain ppl. It’s all symptomatic and related to bad faith politics.
Now, it’s fair to criticize, based upon policies, but not healthy to demonize, capitalizing on any combination of lies/latent hate. One way to maintain fairness is to just focus on policy, and another is to give credit where credit is due. I know I try to do those whenever possible, though I have also surely missed some opportunity. But for good faith politics to be the norm, we would need to begin with some basic acknowledgements about the positions of others, you know, kind of basic human courtesy stuff.
I continue to pull a Republican ballot (as I’ve done for 25yrs now) knowing I’m going to vote for Abrams again. At least if we stay red, I have a small choice to which 6ft white man is driving the car.
Here’s the thing: as a small business owner, as a women who has solely paid my mortgage for 19yrs, I would’ve truly been up schitt’s creek had Kemp not kept Georgia open. It would’ve altered how I live my life.
Here’s the other thing: vote suppression is absolutely real. Hard stop. I will consciously vote in a way that affects my income in order to give those who want a voice a voice.
Like Amber Heard, women should have the right to be narcissistic, domestic abusers too. We are just a capable as Southern Baptist pastors when given a chance.
Been thinking abt population increases, and it would be interesting to see pop changes alongside turnout changes…. maybe even layered with partisanship proxies…but I think that the impacts of pop trends- while surely real- would be very tough to gauge based upon the intervening impacts of the pandemic and voting-related changes. But it may be interesting to look at the latest pop #s, even if it’s just to assess the demographic shifts that have so scared so many. (God knows why they’re scared…?) But, sadly, this task must wait for another, or another day…