Here's why Donald Trump and Georgia's governor are meeting after Hurricane Helene

Greg Bluestein, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Oct 4, 2024

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It seemed bound to happen.

Gov. Brian Kemp and former President Donald Trump will reunite Friday for the first time since 2020 as Republicans fight to unite ahead of a hard-fought November election.

The two will receive a joint briefing about Hurricane Helene and deliver remarks to the media in Evans, a suburb of Augusta. It won’t be a campaign rally, but the politics of the moment can’t be ignored.

Their saga is well-known to Georgians. Trump blamed Kemp for his 2020 defeat, tried to oust him in 2022 and then abruptly attacked him at a campaign rally in Atlanta in August. Then, just as suddenly, he declared the feud over and called the governor “fantastic” in Savannah last week.

Trump has reason to cozy up to the governor. Kemp regularly rates as the state’s most popular Republican in Atlanta Journal-Constitution polls, and Trump’s campaign is desperate to win split-ticket pro-Kemp voters in November.

A stronger alliance with Kemp could also help bolster Trump’s ground game in a state Republicans consider crucial to their White House hopes. The political machine Kemp built helped him humiliate a Trump-backed primary challenger in 2022 and then sweep aside Democratic star Stacey Abrams in a general election rematch.

For Kemp, there are advantages, too. He has his own political future to worry about, and those close to him say he’s more likely to run for president in 2028 than the U.S. Senate in 2026. No matter what he decides, being branded a GOP traitor won’t help him on the campaign trail.

Their political reunion won’t be at a raucous rally of the sort where Trump supporters once chanted “lock him up” about Kemp. Instead, it’s billed as an assessment of Helene’s damage in storm-ravaged east Georgia. That means there won’t be a kiss-the-ring moment before throngs of MAGA fans, but a more somber news conference.

And no matter who wins in November, Georgians will need long-term federal help to clean up the devastation that Helene left behind. Kemp has also lobbied Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, for federal aid.

Still, the Friday meeting may not be a bury-the-hatchet moment. There’s no evidence Kemp has forgiven Trump for the abuse he’s taken over the years. And Kemp recently acknowledged he cast a blank ballot in Georgia’s presidential primary rather than vote for Trump.

As for the former president, he hurled so many insults at Kemp and his wife, Marty, at his August rally in Atlanta that die-hard Republicans worried it would cost Trump a victory in Georgia.

But as the race tightened, Kemp has stepped up his advocacy for Trump. He made peace with the Georgia GOP – a MAGA bastion – at the Republican National Convention. And he’s taken steps to directly embrace the former president.

At a Republican Jewish Coalition gathering this week, Kemp told an audience of hundreds that he views the race as a contest over “who’s going to be better for our state and for our country” and not a personality clash.

“It goes back to the record of where we were four years ago and where we go now. To me, that’s how we win this election,” Kemp told the Sandy Springs crowd.

“Look, you may not like Donald Trump personally, but you’ll like his policies a lot better than Kamala Harris’. It’s a business decision. You’re making a business decision.”