CHICAGO — Three weeks ago, Donald Trump took the stage at his Atlanta rally and unloaded a volley of attacks against Gov. Brian Kemp and his wife so brutal that some Republicans predicted it could cost him Georgia in November.

But as Vice President Kamala Harris prepared to formally accept the Democratic nomination Thursday in Chicago, Trump did an about-face, thanking Kemp for his “help and support.” Just like that, it seemed, the on-again-off-again feud was off again.

The path to peace — or at least a temporary detente between the two Republicans — involved weeks of back-and-forth between their two camps, pressure from donors and some gentle nudging between their mutual allies.

It also took a timely appearance by Kemp on Fox News, where he repeated the same message he’s delivered for months — that he backed Trump despite their past differences — but at a time calibrated to ensure maximum attention.

The ramifications are still playing out, according to a half-dozen senior Republicans granted anonymity to discuss the sensitive internal negotiations.

Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC

Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC

It’s still unclear, for instance, whether Kemp will appear at a Trump campaign event or deploy his vaunted political machine, focused now on legislative races, to help the former president win an increasingly competitive battle for Georgia.

Still, antsy Republicans celebrated the unity amid an otherwise dreary week for Trump. Polls show a tightening race in Georgia, which Trump’s campaign has long seen as essential to his November chances.

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

Yet few are confident the truce will hold, mindful of how easily Trump broke it earlier this month with a heat-seeking social media post followed by a roughly 10-minute tirade at his rally. Several senior Republicans used the same language to describe the situation.

“It’s a house of cards.”

‘Trump may have just lost Georgia’

Trump’s troubled relationship with Kemp dates to his belief that he was left out of the loop when the governor picked wealthy executive Kelly Loeffler in 2019 to fill an open U.S. Senate seat. But it grew worse after the 2020 election, when Trump blamed the governor for his election defeat and, months later, recruited former U.S. Sen. David Perdue to mount a doomed attempt to challenge him.

Kemp easily swept to a second term in 2022, and a year later Trump emerged as the front-runner for the GOP presidential nomination. A tenuous peace seemed to take hold, orchestrated by two politicians who prized flipping Georgia back into the GOP column.

For his part, Kemp always maintained he would back the GOP ticket no matter who emerged — and he traveled to the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee to reinforce his support for Trump. He trashes the Democratic ticket every chance he gets.

Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC

And Trump initially seemed to look the other way when Kemp slighted him, most notably when the governor revealed he cast a blank ballot in Georgia’s presidential primary in March.

Then came the Aug. 3 rally in downtown Atlanta. Before Trump even arrived at Georgia State University, he unloaded on the governor on social media. He followed it up with a barrage on stage. Kemp was a “bad guy” and “disloyal,” with a middling record on crime and the economy. Trump even branded him with a nickname: “Little Brian Kemp.”

Senior state Republicans were despondent, worried it could exact lasting damage in a state that respected analysts recently declared a “toss-up.”

“Trump may have just lost Georgia,” said Allen Peake, a former Republican legislator.

Desperate to reset, some of Trump’s top Georgia allies urged him to stick to the issues — gas and groceries — and avoid the infighting.

Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC

Loeffler, Lt. Gov. Burt Jones and GOP congressional contender Brian Jack, each allies of both Kemp and Trump, pleaded for calm. Jones, in particular, had direct conversations with Trump’s campaign and the governor about turning the page. Wealthy donors close to Kemp also pressed him to reassure Trump he was still in his camp.

A political conference hosted by conservative commentator Erick Erickson a few days after the rally provided Kemp a platform to do just that. On stage, Kemp said his “position has not changed” and that he “was going to support the nominee and we were going to use our political operation to win Georgia.”

But the message didn’t seem to land, at least not with the former president. As Democratic delegates gathered in Chicago, several people in Trump’s circle reached out to Kemp’s team to try to sort out a plan.

And U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina told Fox News he pressed both camps to ease tensions during an early August fundraiser at Loeffler’s estate, declaring after the event that Kemp was committed to the former president in an on-air appearance calibrated to get his attention.

The governor, too, would join Sean Hannity’s Fox News show on Thursday just before Harris spoke — a time slot when Trump was likely to tune in. He went live just as Democratic U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath, a potential candidate for governor in 2026, addressed the crowd about gun violence.

‘A very good relationship’

Strikingly, Kemp delivered the same message he has throughout the year. He said he would fight to help Republicans win “from the top of the ticket on down” and that Georgians can’t afford four years with Harris in the White House.

He also directly invoked the former president’s name, rather than just mentioning the GOP ticket: “We need to send Donald Trump back to the White House.”

Credit: Miguel Martinez /miguel.martinezjimenez@ajc.com

For Kemp, it was a continuation of his reelection strategy, when he avoided goading Trump as he campaigned to unite MAGA Republicans and more mainstream conservatives.

A potential 2028 presidential contender, Kemp hasn’t embraced the former president so willingly as other ex-rivals, but he also hasn’t followed the path of former Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan by outright divorcing himself from MAGA world. His friends proudly note he’s charted his own course.

His strategy seemed to work this week, at least for now. Moments after his appearance, Trump fired off the tweet praising Kemp. Then followed a parade of praise from the former president’s fiercest MAGA allies.

Debbie Dooley, long an outspoken Kemp critic, declared “we are united now.” And Bill White, a Trump loyalist who once accused Kemp of being a dirty politician, made a donation to a pro-Kemp PAC in honor of the governor and his wife.

“They will have a friend in us for life for literally burying a hatchet that will now allow us to save our country together and bring us back from the brink of World War III by electing President Trump,” White said.

What’s less clear is whether this truce will hold — and what happens next.

Kemp and Trump haven’t spoken directly to each other since 2020. And there are still discussions about whether Kemp’s political network, which has allocated more than $1.5 million to help vulnerable GOP legislative candidates, could be recalibrated to boost Trump.

There’s also talk in Republican circles that Kemp could appear at the next Georgia rally held by GOP vice presidential nominee JD Vance, who told reporters Thursday during a stop in Valdosta that he also tried to help patch things up.

Trump, too, seemed satisfied for now. When he dialed into Fox News late Thursday, he didn’t mention his angry tirade at a governor he only recently had branded a “bad guy.” Now, Trump said, he considered Kemp a “very good man.”

“He said he wants Trump to win and he’s going to work with me 100%,” the former president said. “And I think we’re going to have a very good relationship with Brian Kemp.”