Republican insiders in Georgia are in a panic, worrying that Donald Trump’s conspiracy theories and unhinged rants will lose the party another round of elections in 2022.
Trump rallied in the state on Saturday for a slate of candidates like Herschel Walker, who has been accused of domestic violence, but spent much of his time attacking Gov. Brian Kemp for refusing to give in to election conspiracy theories in 2020.
As a result, Republicans there are fuming.
“The texts I’m getting from Republican officials: ‘What a shit show.’ ‘We have reached a new low.’ ‘I am just so mad — beyond words,'” reported Greg Bluestein of The Atlanta Journal Constitution.
Republicans have already seen that Trump has hurt their cause in the state.
After losing the 2020 presidential election to President Joe Biden, Trump campaigned in Georgia in January on behalf of the party’s senate candidates.
Trump spent much of that effort promoting fake election conspiracy claims and dissuading voters from sending in their ballots by mail. At the same time, then-President Elect Joe Biden spoke on behalf of candidates John Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, noting that they would play a vital role in enacting his popular agenda.
Both Ossoff and Warnock won their races as Biden had in the former Republican stronghold. Both men, now Senators, went on to cast votes in favor of Biden’s popular Recovery Act which is now federal law.
One of the first political bloggers in the world, Oliver Willis has operated OliverWillis.com since 2000. Contributor at Media Matters for America and The American Independent. Follow on Twitter at @owillis. Full bio.