The Jolt: Marjorie Taylor Greene to stump for Trump at Milwaukee GOP debate

Former President Donald Trump is skipping the first Republican debate of the 2024 election cycle in Milwaukee this week. Yet U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and some of his MAGA loyalists will apparently be in Wisconsin to promote his campaign in his stead.

Greene, R-Rome, and Florida U.S. Reps. Byron Donalds and Matt Gaetz plan to push Trump’s message to media outlets in Milwaukee, NBC News reported. Trump, meanwhile, hopes to upstage the Fox News telecast by posting a pre-taped interview with Tucker Carlson. Fired earlier this year by Fox News, Carlson now does commentary on X, the social media channel formerly known as Twitter.

Credit: Doug Mills/The New York Times

Credit: Doug Mills/The New York Times

Trump’s legal troubles, including his indictment last week in Fulton County, loom over GOP affairs. The former president is expected to report to the Fulton County Jail later this week, likely Thursday or Friday.

“It’s a huge story. In any debate environment, you’re always going to make sure you’re hitting the news of the day,” said Martha MacCallum, who will moderate the debate alongside colleague Bret Baier. “It’s really also a deciding factor in voters’ minds.”

Democrats plan to leverage the debate to cast Republican candidates as Trump wannabes. Biden campaign staffers and Democratic National Committee officials will be in Milwaukee, where pro-Biden billboards are set to be posted near the Fiserv Forum.

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Credit: Nathan Posner for The AJC

BALANCING ACT. Gov. Brian Kemp is still seen by some Donald Trump critics as a “break the emergency glass” candidate even though he’s repeatedly rejected the idea of mounting a presidential bid.

Democrats are pushing to make sure Kemp is not seen as an anti-Trump hero to a national audience. U.S. Rep. Nikema Williams, the chair of the state Democratic Party, reminded MSNBC viewers on Sunday that Kemp has vowed to back the GOP nominee — even if it’s Trump.

“He is still of the party of Donald Trump,” she told MSNBC’s Katie Phang. “He has not condemned his party. What he’s doing is trying to find a way to remain relevant so that he can win elections. But this shouldn’t be about elections. This should be about what is fair, just and right. … Brian Kemp is still the party of Trump.”

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Credit: NYT

BIDEN BLITZ: The start of football season is still weeks away but President Joe Biden called an ad blitz on Sunday, launching a $25 million campaign in Georgia and other battleground states.

The TV and digital media spots tie the nation’s cooling inflation and job growth to Biden-backed climate change, health care, green energy and infrastructure laws, writes the AJC’s Greg Bluestein.

The ads will run for 16 weeks and be featured during NFL games and Major League Baseball’s World Series. Instagram disciples will see the promotions also, as will YouTube users.

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Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC

ALL BUSINESS AT THE GATHERING. No bumper car rides. No Skee-ball. No pork chops on a stick. Erick Erickson’s Gathering conference struck a sharp contrast to campaigning at the Iowa State Fair for six Republican presidential candidates.

Here are recaps from their appearances this weekend in Atlanta as they positioned themselves for the first GOP debate, plus several other stories about the Republican conference.

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Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC

LISTEN UP. Catch up on anything you missed from The Gathering with our special edition of the Politically Georgia podcast, taped moments after the event wrapped. We’ve got the speeches, the gaggles, and what it all means for 2024.

Listen and subscribe at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Google Podcasts.

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THE FEC HAS QUESTIONS. Far-right provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos has reimbursed U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene after using her campaign credit card to purchase a domain name for Kanye West’s never-launched 2024 presidential bid.

The Daily Beast first reported on the November transaction found in Greene’s campaign finance report filed at the end of 2022. The Rome Republican’s most recent filing showed that Yiannopoulos in May sent the campaign a check for the full amount of $7,020.16.

Credit: Mary Altaffer/AP

But the matter may not end there. The Federal Election Commission sent a “request for additional information” letter to Greene’s campaign committee last week setting a Sept. 19 deadline for more details on the initial unauthorized expenditure.

“Although the Commission may take further legal action regarding this apparent improper use of Committee funds, any further clarifying information that you can provide will be taken into consideration,” the letter states.

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Credit: Adam Van Brimmer/AJC

MAYORAL MUPPET? Candidate qualifying for the 2023 municipal elections begins today in cities and towns across Georgia.

Perhaps the feistiest race is the one for Savannah mayor, with the incumbent, Van Johnson, facing alderwoman Kesha Gibson-Carter. She is an anti-establishment firebrand who launched her bid more than a year early in January 2022.

Savannah residents are already getting a preview of the hijinks ahead.

Gibson-Carter supporters recently put out yard signs featuring Johnson as Sesame Street’s Oscar the Grouch — his face peeking over the lip of a trash can with the lid still on top of his head. The signs read “Can Van” and make reference to taxes, hotels and crime.

Asked for comment, the mayor said: “Apparently the purveyors of this foolishness are willfully ignorant of the fact that Savannah has the lowest millage rate in 35 years, historically low crime in major areas and unprecedented investment in affordable housing and addressing the needs of our roofless neighbors. This is not a one-person effort, but a community effort.”

The municipal elections are Nov. 7.

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Credit: AJC file photos

KEEP UP. Former President Donald Trump and 18 others indicted last week in the Fulton County election interference case have until Friday to surrender to authorities. With all the moving parts, we’ll keep you updated every morning with the latest developments. Our AJC colleagues filed these stories over the weekend:

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TODAY IN WASHINGTON:

President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden are in Maui, the scene of the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century. The Bidens will meet with emergency responders and people displaced by the wildfires before taking an aerial tour of the damage in Lahaina, a city devastated by the blaze. Biden will also deliver remarks honoring the lives lost — 114 at last count, with nearly 1,000 people still missing — and provide updates on the federal response to the wildfires.
The U.S. House and Senate remain on summer break.

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Credit: Courtesy photo

MIXED RULING. A federal judge on Friday blocked two provisions of Georgia’s controversial 2021 election law but upheld two others, the AJC’s David Wickert writes.

U.S. District Judge J.P. Boulee granted a preliminary injunction prohibiting election officials from punishing people for passing out food, drinks and other gifts to voters waiting in line. He also will not allow counties to reject votes from people who get their birthday wrong on their absentee ballot envelopes.

But Boulee declined to grant preliminary injunctions on provisions that forbid unauthorized people from turning in others’ absentee ballots, or to stop the implementation of new restrictions on location and hours for ballot drop boxes.

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Credit: Oliver Contreras/The New York Times

HEAD START HELP. Many Georgians are familiar with the broad strokes of U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock’s origin story: He is one of 12 children raised in public housing near downtown Savannah.

Lesser known is that as a small child, Warnock participated in a Savannah Head Start program. The state-funded initiative provides preschool education to prepare the children of low-income families for kindergarten.

The Democratic lawmaker is back in his hometown today to promote legislation meant to address workforce shortages in Head Start classrooms. As of February 2023, nearly 20% of Head Start staff positions are vacant, and the new measure would allow students working toward child development associate degrees to work in the classroom alongside fully credentialed teachers.

Warnock intends to introduce the bill, which he says has bipartisan support, later this year.

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DOG OF THE DAY is off today, but will return Tuesday.

Send us your dogs of any political persuasion and location, and cats on a cat-by-cat basis, to patricia.murphy@ajc.com, or DM us at @MurphyAJC.

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AS ALWAYS, Jolt readers are some of our favorite tipsters. Send your best scoop, gossip and insider info to adam.vanbrimmer@ajc.com, patricia.murphy@ajc.com, tia.mitchell@ajc.com and greg.bluestein@ajc.com.