So much for Republican unity.

Even before Donald Trump took the stage Saturday at his Atlanta rally, he took to social media to berate Gov. Brian Kemp and his wife Marty as traitors to the GOP cause.

Then, before thousands of supporters packed into a Georgia State University arena, Trump escalated his attacks. Kemp and his allies, he said, “want us to lose” in November. Under Kemp’s watch, he added, “the state has gone to hell” and Atlanta became a “killing field.”

Never mind the lack of evidence supporting the broadsides. Over the course of his 90-minute speech, the former president reopened festering internal wounds within the Georgia GOP and left fellow Republicans baffled and seething at the timing of his tirade.

Former President Trump calls out Governor Kemp while campaigning in Atlanta Saturday, saying the governor is "very bad for the Republican Party."

For months, Trump had refrained from publicly feuding with Kemp and other Republicans he wrongly blamed for his 2020 election defeat. And now, with the race in Georgia tighter than ever against Vice President Kamala Harris, he chose to reopen the raw rift?

ExploreA tortured timeline: The ups and downs of the Kemp-Trump relationship

“Attacking a successful and popular governor is not only wrong, it’s politically stupid,” said Cole Muzio, a conservative activist and close Kemp ally. “The stakes are too high for pettiness – and for the candidate to actively undermine his own chances.”

Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC

Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC

Within minutes of Trump’s fusillades, a full-scale campaign was underway with MAGA loyalists and mainstream Republicans alike who rushed to Kemp’s defense – and to restore some semblance of GOP unity.

“I wish there was less focus on Gov. Kemp. He’s been part of the MAGA solution,” said state Rep. Steven Sainz, R-Woodbine. “Kamala Harris is the threat. That’s the Georgia message that will bring us back to full red.”

Martha Zoller, a conservative commentator, could only cringe at what she described as a massive miscalculation. Enthusiastic Democrats are closing ranks around Harris, and senior Republicans worry they need Kemp and his potent political network more than ever.

Credit: WSBTV Videos

Gov. Brian Kemp says Biden, Trump need ‘to stay focused’ during presidential debate

“Trump is under the misconception that MAGA Republicans are a majority of the electorate,” Zoller said. “And he is alienating people instead of bringing them together.”

Kemp, of course, is no stranger to the barrage of Trump insults. But dragging his wife Marty into the back-and-forth on the cusp of an election crossed a red line. Kemp made that clear in a scathing response that ended with six words.

“Leave my family out of it.”

‘Very upset’

Kemp’s fraught history with Trump is the stuff of Georgia political lore. Trump blamed the governor for his 2020 defeat then embarked on an extraordinary campaign to oust him from office in 2022.

He recruited former U.S. Sen. David Perdue to run for the seat and then did more to support his campaign to oust Kemp than any other candidate. Perdue overestimated Trump’s sway over the base and underestimated Kemp’s popularity. He lost by 52 points.

After that thrashing, Kemp and Trump eventually forged an uneasy truce. While theirs was no happy alliance, both united behind a common goal in recapturing Georgia, the site of a GOP humiliation in 2020 when Democrats won the state for the first time in decades.

That’s what made the timing of Trump’s slashing swipes so perplexing. Trump avoided bashing Kemp during earlier rallies in Georgia and held his tongue even after the governor revealed he cast a blank ballot in the state’s presidential primary.

Credit: TNS

Kemp, for his part, worked to lower the temperature by repeatedly affirming his support for Trump after he secured the nomination. More recently, he eased tensions with the pro-Trump Georgia GOP and traveled to Milwaukee to reinforce his support for the GOP ticket.

But on Saturday, the divisions exploded back into the spotlight. Trump’s allies said he was infuriated by reports that Kemp planned to skip his rally – the governor hasn’t attended one since 2020 – and that Marty wrote in her husband’s name rather than vote for Trump in the presidential primary.

“You’ll do a lot better with a better governor,” Trump told rallygoers. “I don’t want her endorsement. I don’t want his endorsement. I just want them to do their job for Georgia. And you know what? He’s the governor and he ought to support the Republican Party.”

Bill White, the organizer of the Buckhead cityhood initiative, is one of the Trump confidants who pushed the former president to take a sharper stance against Kemp. He said Kemp’s decision to skip the rally left “a bad taste” in Trump’s mouth.

“I don’t blame him for being very upset,” White said. “Georgia’s Republican governor needs to show up and be present and accounted for working every day to help drive out the vote for President Trump and protect America from Kamala. Full stop.”

Former U.S. Rep. Doug Collins, a favorite of the pro-Trump crowd, tried to see a silver lining in the fallout.

“It is known the president and governor have issues but I believe that all are committed to winning in November and beating Vice President Harris.”

Still, it was clear there was no papering over the blowback. Some were despondent that Trump had unearthed fissures that once seemed healed, or at least sidelined, at precisely the wrong time.

“A lot of Republicans like me might just decide not to vote at all in the presidential election because of stupid antics like tonight,“ said Allen Peake, a former Republican legislator. “Trump may have just lost Georgia.”

And the renewed tensions raise questions about how Kemp, regularly the state’s most popular Republican in polls of Georgia voters, wields his considerable influence.

Over the years, he’s built a powerful political network that he’s tasked primarily with helping Republicans in swing legislative districts win or keep their seats.

The governor has already reactivated the gears of his get-out-the-vote machinery and devoted more than $1.5 million for the cause. Trump’s campaign could use that machine’s organizational muscle to boost him in November, but there seems little chance of a pivot now.

As for Georgia Democrats, they are delighting in their swift change of fortune. Just a few weeks ago, they faced a united GOP and mounting internal dissension over President Joe Biden’s viability. Now, they are happy to exploit the Republican infighting.

“I’m elated to see the GOP self-implode and devour their own,” said Democratic state Rep. Derrick Jackson. “Meanwhile, we will continue to expand our tent in Georgia to include those Never Trump Republicans that are interested in saving our democracy.”