Donald Trump doesn’t much like Georgia’s Brian Kemp. In the aftermath of his 2020 Electoral College loss, Trump called on Kemp, the incumbent Republican governor, to help him overturn the results in Georgia. Trump, it must be explained, was the first GOP presidential nominee to lose the Peach State since George H.W. Bush in 1992.
Kemp refused him, and the former president sentenced Kemp to political death for that crime.
Last September, Trump all but endorsed Stacey Abrams, a similarly sore loser, in her second attempt to best Kemp. “Stacey, would you like to take his [Kemp’s] place? It’s OK with me,” he declared. “Of course, having her, I think, might be better than having your existing governor, if you want to know what I think. Might very well be better.”
Then he encouraged ex-senator David Perdue, who was also defeated in 2020 after embracing Trump’s election-related conspiracy theories, to primary Kemp. The governor thrashed the sycophant by over 50 points in May.
That brings us to Election Day Eve last night, when, during a rally in Ohio, Trump included Kemp in the list of candidates he was urging his supporters to vote for. “Brian Kemp for governor in Georgia,” said the chastened former president.
For those who believe in Trump’s political invincibility as an article of faith — that includes both slavish disciples and professed opponents alike — this should be nearly as embarrassing an occurrence as it is to the man himself. In Georgia, where a recent survey found that Trump was trailing Florida governor Ron DeSantis by 16 points in a hypothetical 2024 primary contest, he’s fallen to Kemp’s feet in a desperate effort to re-associate himself with the popular governor, who’s expected to easily best Abrams on Tuesday evening, despite being perhaps Trump’s top GOP target this cycle.
Suppose you can’t see how this, as well as his obvious insecurity over the threat DeSantis poses to his renomination in 2024 — to say nothing of his finding a way to lose to Joe Biden — speaks to Trump’s vulnerability. In that case, I’m sure plenty of PredictIt addicts will thank you for your naivete.