Posted on 01/08/2023 10:39:57 PM PST by Olog-hai
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp is done being underestimated.
Having vanquished both a Donald Trump-backed Republican challenger and Democratic star Stacey Abrams to win reelection, Kemp is looking to expand his influence in his second term, free from the caricature of the gun-toting, pickup-driving, migrant-catching country boy that emerged during his first campaign for governor.
A new vision of Kemp steering his party toward a non-Trumpian conservatism made its debut in his November victory speech after it became clear that he had defeated Abrams by a much larger margin in their rematch than he had in their tight 2018 matchup.
“This election proves that when Republicans stay focused on real-world solutions that put hardworking people first we can win now, but also in the future, y’all,” Kemp said.
Kemp pledged that night to “stay in the fight” and followed with concrete steps: He kept his political operation running and lent it to the unsuccessful Senate runoff campaign of Herschel Walker, while forming a federal political action committee that lets the governor influence races for Congress and president. He hasn’t ruled out running for the U.S. Senate in 2026 or even seeking the White House.
Beyond his own advancement, Kemp’s victory could provide a blueprint for Republicans in competitive states after voters rejected many of the Trump-molded candidates in 2022. It’s a less showy approach, aimed at luring independents and moderates while still achieving conservative policy goals.
“If Republicans looking forward are focused on winning, I think a lot of folks will be calling Gov. Kemp and wanting his advice, but also trying to replicate the things he did here,” said Cody Hall, Kemp’s political adviser. …
(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.com ...
I think you underestimate DJT.
How about Kemp focus his efforts on cleaning up the corruption in Fulton County regarding their Board of Elections. If Georgia EVER wants to have fair and free elections again, he MUST address this issue before all others.
Right - people forget the extent to which Covid19 was exploited as a political trap for Trump. The Left was baiting him to be “weak” in his response to Covid, so they could make Covid “Trump’s Katrina”.
The trap was set by putting Trump between a rock and a hard place. Damned if he did damned if he didn’t.
All the Left had to do to set the trap was keep upping the anti on lockdowns and mandates, until it was so painful, so unconstitutional and so intolerable that President Trump would oppose them or lose the support of his base.
And if he opposed the lockdowns or mandates, he could then be accused of being “weak” in his Covid response - he could be accused of not “following the science” - blamed for the spread Covid being worse than it otherwise would have been - and blamed for millions of deaths.
Covid was the perfect political trap - the way they teed it up with Fauci defining “the science”, the Democrat Governors putting the screws to the economy and the Bill of Rights, and the fake news media calling the plays - there was no way out for President Trump - he not could have survived it any better than he did.
In fact, it was amazing how well he survived it - but he did not get away unscathed.
Those of us who admire President Trump and understand what he was up against will have no problem forgiving him for occasionally getting on the wrong side of an issue - like operation warp speed.
He did great under awful circumstances, with nearly everyone hoping he’d fail, and I for one would be absolutely thrilled to see him serve his second term - if he is willing.
(He will not flip a single state that he lost in ‘20. He’d be lucky to even hold on to the ones he won.)
That means DeSantis would be unsuccessful just the same.
Non-Trumpian conservatism isn’t conservatism it’s bowing to the uni-party.
Kemp thinks he is destined for bigger and better things. Not the presidency, but a nice cushy appointment in the next GOPe administration.
Unfortunately, that’s exactly what the RINOs are counting on.
I’d rather get someone awful for one term and then throw them out to get an only slightly better than awful RINO in there because they are blocking us getting someone truly good.
I don’t think so. DeSantis wins AZ and GA easily, states are that are desperate to vote for Republicans, just not "Trumpy" ones.
Additionally, he takes a page from Glenn Youngkin's playbook and flips VA. DeSantis' pro-parental rights policies are popular in VA, as Youngkin demonstrated.
That's 272 electoral votes and the keys to the White House.
Trump couldn't flip any of these three states, to say the least about MI or PA.
Once The Ghettopotamous was there, it would be almost impossible to remove her. Besides, she would’ve turned Georgia into a third world dump almost overnight. Despite the fact that I strongly dislike him and think kemp is a crook (I’d like to see his off-shore accounts), he has brought business to Georgia.
I agree. He was a great president, but we need to get past Trump.
He ignored (or facilitated) the steals in 2022 as well.
Keep parroting the Uniparty line, why dontcha. Makes it more obvious what you are.
Do you have portraits of Lenin and Mao hanging up in your bedroom?
Well, I would not dare post it in the News forum. And it gave some here a good laugh, I’m sure.
Thats right it doesn’t matter who we run if we don’t stop the cheating. That includes Trump.
Trump is THE ONLY GOPer tha could possibly beat the “margin of fraud”.
Exactly.
Well this is true. Since none of the corruption problems were fixed, we are going to get the exact same corruption again in 2024.
Opus?
Whatever it is you are going to do is also going to fail, and possibly fail in an even worse manner.
You have to be an idiot to believe Joe Biden got 12 million more votes than Barack Obama.
Kemp is an assistant democrat. He’s Larry Hogan with a southern twang.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.