Shut Up, Brian

Brian Pritchard, the current Vice Chair of the Georgia Republican Party is a man who appears to not understand the role he signed up for.

While it has been widely reported that Mr. Pritchard has been accused of illegally voting and that he was once a convicted felon, I have been quick to point out that he has been pardoned. On a recent radio segment with Tim Bryant, Mr. Pritchard seemed repentant and took responsibility for the crimes of his past. And a pardoned man deserves to be treated as completely forgiven of the crime in the eyes of the law and should no longer be punished as a convicted felon.

I write that to point out that I have no animus with Mr. Pritchard over his past. It’s the idiotic (in my opinion) statements that he continues to make that damages the effectiveness of Josh McKoon and the rest of the Georgia GOP to do their job that are the subject of my ire.

And I have to note, because I have come to understand the mind of those who see conspiracies as far as the eye can see, that I did not talk to Josh McKoon before writing this piece. No one from the official party structure has asked me to write this. in fact, no one asked me to write this. I have been watching as a party activist who is interested in helping Republicans win wherever possible and I can see how out of touch Mr. Pritchard is with the average Republican voter in Georgia.

In addition to being a failed candidate for State House, Mr. Pritchard hosts a radio show which he has used as a platform to rail against elected Republicans of all stripes. Back in June, he used that platform to call on The Georgia Republican Party to expel Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger.

I’ll remind Mr. Pritchard that Brad Raffensperger has won multiple elections, including a contested primary without a runoff just last year. In fact, he has won several elections, having stood in front of voters and offered himself up in public service. Unlike Mr. Pritchard, who could only muster 490 (6.2% !!!) votes in his failed State House campaign, the voters have liked what they have seen from Brad Raffensperger. Specifically, Republican voters.

I recently had the opportunity to record an interview with Governor Kemp that will be featured in a podcast that will be published soon, and while Mr. Pritchard was not mentioned specifically, Governor Kemp expressed a sentiment that there has yet to be a meaningful olive branch extended by the state party.

And is it any wonder why he would feel that way while the First Vice Chair is out there on his radio show saying things like, “Georgia is controlled, in my opinion, by a corrupt group of individuals who call themselves Republicans… And their leader is Brian Kemp.”

But he didn’t stop with just Kemp and Raffensperger. He ranted about Chris Carr, Jon Burns, Mike Pence, Geoff Duncan, Mitch McConnell, and even Joni Ernst. Again, all people who have done something that Brian Pritchard couldn’t do, get elected as a Republican.

To Brian Pritchard, who appears cultish in my opinion (see what I did there?), about his loyalty to one person over the overall movement of the Republican Party, anyone who doesn’t subscribe to that same cultish behavior is a RINO.

And thanks to Brant Frost, we know that people like Brian Pritchard who believe they know what a Republican is have no idea what they are talking about. Because when the average Georgia Republican showed up to vote in a primary, they absolutely destroyed the Trump slate, with Brian Kemp defeating David Perdue by over 50 points.

Do you know what that means, Brian? It means you don’t get to speak for the millions of people who identify as Republican in telling them they are RINO’s. MAGA is part of the GOP, but it isn’t the entire GOP. And expressing support for people who can actually win as a Republican should never be considered the bar for being labeled as a RINO. And yet, you do, because I am sure it is what your tiny audience wants to hear.

In America, in my opinion (wink), anyone is free to pander like you are clearly doing. But your pandering to your audience, in my opinion (wink), damages the ability of the party to be relevant and attractive to people who are willing to pull a Republican ballot on election day. And I would stand for your right to say the things you are saying even though I disagree with them. The problem is that you are the first Vice Chair of the Georgia Republican Party and at this point, the electorate on the whole has demonstrably rejected you and your ideas.

So if you want to continue to rail against people who are actually able to get elected, the way I figure it you have two choices; resign from the Vice Chairmanship and continue to make content for your audience unencumbered with the solemn responsibilities that come with making sure candidates like Brad Raffensperger are elected. Or, just shut up already.