Ex-President Donald Trump blasted Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp for refusing to overturn the 2020 election results at a Saturday rally supporting Kemp’s primary challenger.
“Brian Kemp is a turncoat, a coward, and a complete and total disaster,” the 45th president told a crowd of supporters in Commerce, Georgia of the fellow Republican, whom he helped get elected in 2018.
“Before we can defeat the Democrats, socialists and communists … we first have to defeat the RINO sellouts and the losers in the primaries this spring,” Trump told the crowd, referring to Kemp as a “Republican in name only.”
Trump has thrown his weight behind former Sen. David Perdue, who will face off against Kemp in the May 24 primary ahead of the pivotal midterm elections this year.
Georgia is being closely eyed as a battleground to determine how much influence Trump still wields in the Republican Party, more than a year after he left the White House.
Former President Donald Trump speaks on stage during a rally for Georgia GOP candidates at Banks County Dragway in Commerce, Georgia on March 26, 2022. AP
Trump turned on Kemp after the 2020 election, when Trump became the first GOP presidential candidate to lose the state in 28 years. Trump accused Kemp of betraying Republican voters when the governor decided not to stand by the former president’s unfounded claims of widespread voter fraud and refused to call a special session to overturn the result.
“I endorsed Brian Kemp, unfortunately, in 2018 — I feel so badly but look you can’t have them all. He was losing, I endorsed him and he won big, how about that? And he wouldn’t do a damn thing about the election fraud,” Trump said.
“We picked Kemp and now we have to get Kemp out.”
The results in Georgia were certified following three recounts, including one partially done by hand. They all affirmed Biden’s victory.
Georgia governor Brian Kemp made Donald Trump angry when the former president became the first GOP presidential candidate to lose the state of Georgia in 28 years.AP
Trump warned the Republican establishment that his supporters would not support Kemp in the November election. The GOP nominee will likely face off against Democratic former Georgia House member Stacey Abrams.
“If Brian Kemp is re-nominated he will go down in flames at the ballot box because Stacey will steal it from him and humiliate him,” Trump said.
“Trump voters … will not go out and vote for Kemp. They’re not going to vote.”
Former President Donald Trump pumps his fist, as he leaves the stage during a rally for Georgia GOP candidates in Commerce, Georgia on March 26, 2022.AP
According to a Fox News poll released this month, Perdue trailed Kemp 39% to 50%. If those numbers hold, Kemp would be within striking distance of winning the primary outright, averting a runoff.
The president also all but announced that he will be running for president again in 2024.
“The truth is I ran twice, I won twice and I just did better the second time. And now, we just might have to do it again,” he said.
With Post Wires