Dem
51
GOP
49
Some people think Donald Trump plays 3-D chess, and hailed his performance at the NABJ Conference as nailing down his base. We don't think he plays 2-D chess or 1-D chess or even 0-D chess (all the pieces on the same square?). He just goes with his gut.
Evidence? Happy to provide it. On Saturday, Trump reopened an old feud with Gov. Brian Kemp (R-GA). On his boutique social media site, which closed Friday at $29.21, one of the lowest points since February, Trump accused the governor of fighting unity and fighting the Republican Party. At a rally, he went further and said of Kemp: "He's a bad guy, he's a disloyal guy and he's a very average governor."
Mind you, Georgia is a swing state that Joe Biden won last time and Kamala Harris is going to fight for tooth and nail. Kemp runs a great GOTV operation. Will he deploy it to help Trump? Does he even want Trump to be president and to diss him from the bully pulpit? Maybe not. In any event, there is no upside in terms of the campaign for Trump to anger Kemp and plenty of downside.
Kemp's former campaign manager, Bobby Saparow, said: "Attacking the popular governor of a pivotal swing state makes zero sense. If we want to actually unite, ask for the support of the guy who beat your endorsed primary opponent by 52 points and handily defeated Stacey Abrams." Conservative radio host Erick Erickson said: "Over 30,000 people refused to vote for [Trump] in Georgia in 2020 and he lost by about 12,000 votes. All he's doing is reminding everyone why they don't like him. And he has no Georgia ground game and will have to rely on Kemp. It's going to hurt him." A Republican operative, who prefers to remain anonymous, told Politico: "I think the more important point is that you're trying to unify your party and you personally attack the most popular politician in the state who has said he's supporting you. It's batsh** crazy." And these are Georgia Republicans. If they don't think Trump is playing 3-D chess, we certainly don't. (V)