'A hurricane of disruption': New analysis explores how 'chaos agent' Trump stoked the GOP war in Georgia
In the weeks leading up to the Georgia primary election, former President Donald Trump has been at the center of the state's Republican battle. Now, a new Politico analysis is breaking down how the former president's actions have only made things worst for Georgia Republicans.
The primary election in the Peach State is being described as a complete "mess." Politico's Brittany Gibson offered a breakdown of the intraparty election wars plaguing the Georgia Republican Party.
"The governor is facing a former senator. The secretary of state is besieged by a congressman," Gibson wrote. "The state attorney general and the insurance commissioner are fending off tough challenges and the open primary for lieutenant governor features two state senators spending millions."
Gibson also emphasized how the intraparty bickering is connected to one single person. "All of it traces back to a single chaos agent, former President Donald Trump, who unleashed a hurricane of disruption in Georgia after losing the state in 2020. Republican politics there hasn’t been the same since," Gibson wrote.
It's no secret that Trump personally opposes a number of Georgia Republicans -- and he has made it his mission to get revenge. However, it appears the party may collectively pay the price for his spite.
"The issue of reuniting the party is no small matter in what’s become one of the nation’s most competitive states," she wrote. "Trump’s grudge against Georgia officials who refused to overturn the 2020 election results in his favor has already had far-reaching implications — it can be traced to the loss of the state’s two GOP-held Senate seats in 2021. In November, the state will be home to a competitive governor’s race and a Senate contest that will prove critical to GOP chances of winning back the Senate."
A number of Republican strategists have also weighed in on the problem in Georgia. Chip Lake, a veteran strategist, admitted that he still believes some of these issues are connected to the 2020 presidential election.
“When we have primaries, we get our money’s worth,” said Lake. “I really think that these primaries are in many respects an extension of what happened last cycle. And, you know, look after every primary, you have to put Humpty Dumpty back together, which is not easy.”
While there have been talks about the possibility of a "unity rally" for Republicans, one individual working for several Republican lawmakers has made it clear that Trump-aligned Republicans may not be inclined to attend especially if they lose elections.
Speaking under the condition of anonymity, the person said, “I don’t think that these Trump-endorsed candidates are going to show up at a unity rally, if they lose. And I don’t think [Attorney General] Chris Carr and Brad Raffensperger are going to show up at something like that, if they were to lose."
