Kemp's Cowardice
Gov. Brian Kemp failed to defend the people of Georiga by saying he would "absolutely" support Trump if he is the 2024 Republican nominee.
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2020 Election
I want to start off this week’s newsletter with a refresher on what happened in Georgia during and after the 2020 Presidential election. To start with the obvious, Joe Biden won the state of Georgia. In fact, Joe Biden was the first president to win the Peach State since Bill Clinton managed to do it in 1992. That’s 28 years of Republican dominance that was ended this past election cycle. Needless to say, many were shocked.
While Georgia was said to be in play for Biden before the election, it is always a surprise when a state that has so consistently voted for one party flips. However, as I mentioned there had been whispers of the possibility that Biden would win Georiga. Anyone who lived in the state could have told you that the state has been changing for years now with the growth, in general, but particularly of the movie industry, in Atlanta. Not to mention, the suburbs have been growing across Georgia and Trump was projected, and did, notoriously bad with suburban voters. Considering all of this, the 2020 results in Georgia were indeed surprising but should not have been a total shock.
The reason why this matters is that Georgia was ripe to turn blue without the use of voter fraud to make it happen. Donald Trump could not believe this and went after Georgia elected officials, specifically Governor Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, for being soft on voter fraud and allowing the election to be stolen. Now, this is a serious charge that would be condemnable if it were true. Serious charges require serious evidence though and Trump’s legal counsel refused to show any serious evidence that voting fraud had occurred in Georgia. That didn’t phase Donald Trump as he continued to discredit the Georgia election as fraught with fraud without legally proving any.
As if that weren’t bad enough, on January 2, 2021, Donald Trump called Secretary of State Raffensperger and attempted to bully him “to find 11,780 votes.” That was the exact number that Donald Trump needed to win the state of Georgia. Essentially, Trump wanted to disregard the votes of every Georgian and manufacture an outcome, based solely on his own desire to remain president. The bottom line, Trump wanted to win and didn’t care whether Georgians were disenfranchised in the process.
Brian Kemp on Neil Cavuto
I bring all of this infuriating stuff back up because Gov. Brian Kemp on Neil Cavuto’s show Wednesday said that he would “absolutely” back Donald Trump if he were the 2024 Republican nominee. You can see the video below and the entire interview here.
Just to be clear, Kemp was not saying that he would support Donald Trump over the other potential 2024 Republican candidates. He was saying that if Donald Trump were elected the 2024 Republican nominee then he would support him. Kemp was basically showing himself to be a loyal Republican that would support whoever the nominee is even if that person (Donald Trump) has personally gone after him personally.
People have taken this and gone after Kemp because Trump has made it clear that he does not support Kemp back. In fact, there has been persistent reporting that Trump is actively focused on making sure Kemp gets primaried and does not get reelected in 2022. While I would have a hard time supporting someone so hostile to me, I also understand the move to put aside personal grievances and support the person you believe will be best for the country. If Kemp believes that the Republican nominee will be best for the country, then it could be considered admirable to support them regardless of personal grievances. You could say he was looking beyond himself for what was best for others.
That is not my problem with Kemp saying he will support Donald Trump. If he believes Trump’s accusations of him are worth overlooking for the good of the country and the good of the Republican party, then fine. My issue is that what Donald Trump did after the 2020 election (try to ignore the votes of Georgians) was an attack on the right of Georgians to participate in the democratic process. Brian Kemp, as the governor of Georgia, should be defending this right of the people that he is supposed to be representing. His primary duty is not to look out for the interest of the country as a whole (though, he can do that) or the Republican party (though, he can do that as well) but to look out for the interest of Georgians. I have a hard time believing that supporting a man that sought to ignore the votes of Georgians is in their best interest.
Courage Over Party
The truth is that I understand why Brian Kemp said he would absolutely support Donald Trump if he were the 2024 Republican nominee. Though he lost the state, Donald Trump lost the state by the slimmest of margins (12,670 votes according to the Secretary of State website). Also, Kemp just so happens to be running for reelection in 2022. Clearly, Kemp believes that in order to win reelection in 2022 he cannot lose the support of those who voted for Trump throughout the state. The “right” political move in his mind is to placate Trump’s base enough so that they are willing to show up and vote for him in 2022.
Kemp very well may be right about this (though I hesitate to say for sure) but that does not excuse his saying he will support Trump. At some point, doing the right thing has to be more important than winning elections. I understand it’s easy for me to say that on the sidelines and not in his shoes, but I don’t think that puts his actions above reproach. As everyone knows, doing the right thing is sometimes (very often, actually) the harder thing to do. It takes courage to do the right thing in spite of the possible consequences that one might suffer. Being faced with that conundrum is not unique to politicians but one that everybody faces on a routine basis and one that everybody is expected to uphold their moral integrity through. If anything, politicians should be held to a higher standard because they have been elected to a position of power and as the cliche goes: greater power means greater responsibility.
Donald Trump pressured Georgia officials to ignore the votes of Georgians, the very people Kemp is called to represent. The right and admirable thing to do is stand up for the rights of Georgians in spite of the potential political consequences. Instead, Kemp took the politically expedient route by saying he would absolutely support Trump if he were the 2024 Republican nominee. Whether it was to be a Republican team player or to get reelected, Brian Kemp did not have the moral courage to face the potential political consequences of refusing to support the person who wanted the votes of Georgians ignored. The people of Georgia deserve better than that.
God Bless,
Hunter Burnett