Georgia On Trump's Mind

Brian and Brad are Georgia's golden boys.

In a high-profile primary contest for the nominations to run for second terms as Governor and Secretary of State of Georgia, respectively, incumbent governor Brian Kemp (below, left) and Brad Raffensperger won the Republican nominations.  (Georgia Democrats renominated Stacey Abrams for governor; the Democratic Secretary of State nomination will be decided in a runoff.) 

Kemp's overwhelming victory over former U.S. Senator David Perdue was expected, but Raffensperger's win was an upset, and by a much closer margin - 52 percent to 48 percent combined for three challengers, including U.S. Representative Jody Hice. 

Both Perdue and Hice were endorsed by Donald Trump as an act of revenge against Kemp and Raffensperger for certifying that Joe Biden had carried Georgia in the 2020 presidential election.  It shows that Republicans in one of the most conservative states in the country have moved beyond Trump and have denied him the political capital he needs to wage a possible presidential campaign in 2024.  

Georgia Republicans have also pointed to the high voter turnout in the primary as proof that the new election laws there are not prohibitive or restrictive. There's just one problem with that claim; Republican voter turnout was higher than Democratic voter turnout.  This may have been because the Republican primary elections were highly competitive, but the acid test comes in November, for the general election.  At least, with the temperatures in the mid-eighties this past Tuesday, those who voted in person didn't have to worry about getting thirsty do much, as handing out water to voters is now illegal.

Trump suffered the biggest blows to his power and his kingmaking role in the Republican Party so far.  But a deranged young man in Texas, in a brutal way, helped Trump enormously; he killed 21 people in an elementary school in Uvalde, west of San Antonio, and shifted practically all of the broadcast media attention away from Trump's humiliation.  By the time much of the media focus shifts back to Trump, he'll be on to another primary campaign.  

As for the Uvalde shooting, don't expect action on gun violence; even Texas' two Republican U.S. Senators are doubling down on their opposition to gun control and defending the rights of "law-abiding citizens" to bear arms.  Europeans are right when they say that America is a country populated by uncivilized, ignorant heathens, but in Texas, that goes double. 😠