Do Trump Endorsements Trump All?
I have a few questions:
Do all Trump-endorsed candidates support all the other Trump-endorsed candidates?
Would Burt Jones vote for Vernon Jones?
Are David Perdue and Jody Hice voting for Herschel and are Herschel and Jody voting for Perdue?
Patrick Witt is endorsed by Trump but who is Patrick Witt?
Did Herschel even vote for Trump? According to his record, he didn’t vote in 2016 at all and before that, it had been at least since 2003 since he voted. It can be found in a simple google search that his voting record isn’t the most flush but I’ve provided a link here. Also, apparently, Herschel doesn’t carry a gun because he IS a gun, so there’s that (at this point this seems like a joke but unfortunately, it isn’t). Herschel didn’t even show up at the Republican Primary Debate last week for the US Senate candidates. Is that how he is going to work in the Senate? Just not show up when there are some hard topics to debate? And, when you can’t answer a simple question about how you would have voted on the infrastructure bill by saying, “don’t ask me hard questions like that,” I’m not incredibly confident you can go to Washington and effectively argue any kind of policy.
Look, I want Raphael Warnock out of the Senate terribly. While I am not supporting Herschel in the primary, if he is who the nominee is for the general, I’ll vote for him. At the end of the day, we must think of the big picture scheme here. Frankly, I’m also tired of Trump meddling in Georgia’s business. He has picked some candidates who are not the most qualified and are not the best for what Georgia needs. While Trump may have married Georgia girl Marla Maples for a hot minute, he has never lived in Georgia. He doesn’t understand that mountain politics are different from South Georgia politics and that there’s a difference in the politics of Northeast Georgia vs. Northwest Georgia. With all of that to consider, there is a difference between Metro ATL politics and the rest of Georgia which is vastly rural.
Trump endorsed Brian Kemp then that friendship went south. He pushed for Doug Collins to be appointed Senator and then when Kelly Loeffler became the pick, he said he was staying out of it and was going to let Doug and Kelly fight it out. The supposed loyalty to his Impeachment fighter didn’t go very far. Then Trump just couldn’t keep his hand out of Georgia, and we’ve suffered a long string of endorsements since then. It’s gotten to the point that a Trump endorsement doesn’t mean a whole lot anymore in these parts. All it means is Trump is picking people who he perceives either kiss the ring or are anti-Kemp in some fashion. Maybe it is a little bit of both. Who really knows? What irks me is it doesn’t seem that HE must be loyal to his chosen ones but they damn sure better be loyal to him.
What I do know is his batch of endorsements for this round has created an interesting dynamic. Are all the Trump endorsees going to support and vote for one another? One would think so if they are seen as a “Trump Team”. The other thing is Trump has created a whole lot of grifters who want to ride his coattails to be the ultimate “anti-establishment, anti-swamp” candidate. It’s like they have learned if you get in front of a crowd and yell “Trump” you get attention. Vernon Jones is a prime example of someone who saw an opportunity and took it. I mean, the dude voted AGAINST the Heartbeat Bill TWICE. Then he came up with a crafty justification by saying he voted against it because he believes life begins at conception and not at 6 weeks. Come on, man. He wasn’t even a blue-dog conservative democrat in the Georgia House.
What this has done is it has turned Georgia into a state of Trump loyalists and Kemp loyalists. Frankly, I fall somewhere in the apathetic middle of that because I think they have both made some incredibly boneheaded decisions (then again, what politician doesn’t?). I’ll probably write an article on that later. That’s not the point here though. With China and Blackrock buying up farmland and food processing facilities across the nation, I want someone up in the Senate who can effectively argue agriculture policy. Agriculture is Georgia’s largest industry and one of the largest in the United States. Agriculture touches our lives literally every day from the food we eat to the clothes we wear, and in countless other ways. However, I respect both Kelvin King and Latham Saddler. I think they are impressive people, and I really would like to see them both continue to lead. Right now, I just think Gary has the skills that are most pertinent to help us. Look at the Georgia Grown brand. Gary Black did that. Georgia Grown is a point of pride for Georgia but even more than that, it helps Georgia farmers and helps boost our state’s economy. It’s one of the best ways I’ve seen of putting Georgia first. And what’s more “America First” than prioritizing your state and all it has to offer?
In short, just because someone tells you it’s a good idea doesn’t make it a good idea. That goes for what DJT says and anyone else for that matter. I’m not asking you to vote for a particular candidate. If you feel that a Trump candidate is a better pick than the other then, by all means, support them. I just hope that we all do a little more thinking about what is ACTUALLY best for us rather than what someone tells us is best. We could all benefit from that.
