Society wants to lock Republicans into one of two camps: MAGA or anti-MAGA. You can either be Matt Gaetz or Geoff Duncan, it’s a binary choice.
Reality is not that simple. Everyday Americans do not treat political parties as cults with an infallible leader. Reasonable people do not haul off and endorse a candidate who represents the exact opposite of the policy positions they allegedly believe.
Credit: Handout
Credit: Handout
It’s no secret that I was a Nikki Haley supporter during this presidential primary cycle. I thought and still think the former U.N. ambassador and governor of South Carolina is the kind of leader the United States needs right now: Haley is smart, articulate, poised, reasonable, measured and responsible. But, alas, Republican presidential primary voters across the country strongly disagreed with me, and that’s OK. I understand how the process works, and though I was disappointed, I was ready to vote Republican again in November.
But former President Donald Trump isn’t making that easy. In fact, it is hard to look past Trump’s most recent rally in Atlanta — the one where he took shots at not only Gov. Brian Kemp but our first lady as well. Then, if that weren’t enough, the former president renewed his sentiments against Kemp in another news conference the next week.
Here’s the thing: You don’t come into my house, sit at my dinner table and tell me I’m a lousy cook, my children are ugly and you also hate my dog. Growing up in the South, we were taught by our mamas that if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all. Adhering to this simple life lesson would lead the former president back to the White House.
Kemp is no stranger to taking one on the jaw from national politicians, from both the left and right. During the coronavirus pandemic, he refused to bend his knee to fear, but rather operated on facts, heeded the advice of experts and carefully got Georgia back on track. His leadership could not escape the flak that we now know was largely founded not in science but in speculation and fearmongering. In the face of widespread criticism, Kemp remained the levelheaded leader we needed; he did what was right, not what was easy or politically expedient.
He did the same in 2020 when many claimed Georgia’s election results were fraudulent. Kemp led the effort to support a hand-recount of the ballots as well as a thorough audit to evaluate the known and unknown irregularities. His concerns, echoed by thousands of Georgians, led to the discovery of multiple ways Georgia’s election security could be strengthened, and Kemp wholeheartedly and vocally supported the General Assembly’s steps to make these improvements.
An irrational leader could have used these situations as opportunities to curry favor within his or her own party, to aggrandize his or her own national profile or simply make poor choices on behalf of constituents. But our ever-steady governor kept choppin’, as he says. And his impressive 63% approval rating among Georgians proves they think he made the right calls.
I look forward to the day when Republicans can unite under principles of fiscal conservatism, a free market, valuing individual liberties and personal responsibility, strong national security and improving the quality of life of every American. Until then, grifters are going to grift and charlatans will proliferate, and what we allow is what will continue; but the bottom line is that America needs more Brian Kemps.
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