Trump indicates he has support from Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, even as he called him ‘average’ and criticized his wife

Donald Trump announced on social media on Thursday evening that he has the support of Brian Kemp, the Republican governor of Georgia.

Kemp had just gone on Fox News to reaffirm his support for Trump, despite their years-long feud.

“Thank you (Kemp) for all of your help and support in Georgia, where a win is so critical to the success of our party and, more importantly, our country,” Trump said on Truth Social and X.

“I look forward to working with you, your team, and all my friends in Georgia to help MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” he posted.

Earlier Thursday, Trump’s running mate J.D. Vance announced he had spoken “very briefly” with Kemp to try to resolve the ongoing feud that could hurt the GOP’s moves in the crucial swing state.

“I’ve read the headlines. ‘Brian Kemp and Donald Trump have had some disagreements,'” Vance told reporters. “I can guarantee you 100 percent that Brian Kemp is behind this ticket. He wants us to win.”

“Atlanta is a battlefield and your governor needs to get his ass up and do something about it,” Trump said at a rally two weeks ago.

He reignited the disagreement with the leader of a crucial swing state in 2024. Last time, it didn’t end well for Republicans.

Before a rally in Atlanta, Trump reopened old wounds by calling Georgia’s crime rate “horrible” and the economy “average,” and saying he doesn’t want support from Gov. Brian Kemp or his wife. In a bitter retort, Kemp shot back, saying “leave my family out of this.”

Trump has long harbored resentment toward Kemp, the state’s leading Republican, for not taking more aggressive action against unsubstantiated claims of widespread voter fraud during the 2020 election.

“Brian Kemp should be focusing his efforts on fighting crime, not fighting Unity and the Republican Party! His crime rate in Georgia is terrible, his crime rate in Atlanta is the worst, and his economy is average,” Trump wrote before the thousands who gathered for his speech earlier this month.

Trump then went after Kemp’s wife and Georgia’s first lady, Marty Kemp.

“He and his wife didn’t think he could win. I said, ‘I’m telling you, you’re going to win.’ Then he won, he was happy, and his wife said, ‘Thank you, sir, we’ll never make it right!’ Now she says she won’t support me, and she’s going to ‘write in Brian Kemp’s name.’ Well, I don’t want her support, and I don’t want his,” Trump wrote.

“I’m focused on winning this November and saving our country from Kamala Harris and the Democrats. I don’t want to engage in petty personal insults, attacking fellow Republicans, or dwelling on the past,” Kemp shot back at X.

“You should do the same, Mr. President, and leave my family out of it,” he continued.

Kelly Loeffler, the former Georgia senator who lost a re-election race in 2021 in what some observers blamed on Trump’s attacks on the state’s elections, downplayed the disagreement between the two men.

“Republicans have always embraced a broad spectrum of views – that’s why we had a competitive primary for president, while Democrats invalidated 14 million votes and named Kamala Harris president,” she told DailyMail.com in a statement.

“The bottom line is that President Trump and Governor Kemp are working tirelessly to fix America and prevent Kamala’s broken agenda from causing even more pain. That is my focus, it is their focus, and it is shared by all of us who have been crushed by high prices, crime, the open border, and the many other radical policies of the Biden-Harris administration.”

Loeffler lost her 2021 runoff election at the height of Trump’s attacks on Georgia’s electoral system, a move some strategists say has depressed Republican voter turnout.

Others were more outspoken in their criticism of the rekindling of old tensions.

“The Trump rally in Atlanta makes it more likely that Kamala Harris will win. He is his own worst enemy,” said conservative Georgia radio host Erick Erickson.

Trump and Kemp have had a close relationship for years, but Trump’s animosity toward the Republican Party governor increased after Trump lost Georgia in 2020.

The ex-president reportedly pressured the Republican Party governor to intervene and gather votes to overturn the election results after President Biden won by fewer than 12,000 votes in Georgia.

He has also expressed anger over Kemp’s failure to help him in the Fulton County case against him for election interference in Georgia.

Trump wrote Saturday that Kemp is a “bad guy” as he faces another neck-and-neck race in Georgia in November, with Vice President Kamala Harris leading the Democratic ticket.

Kemp enjoys broad support in the Georgia GOP, having fended off a Trump-backed bid to unseat him as governor in 2022 and outpolling Trump’s hand-picked Senate candidate, Herschel Walker.

Trump went after Kemp again at his rally on Saturday.

“Your governor, Kemp, and (Secretary of State Brad) Raffensperger, they’re doing everything they can to make it difficult for Republicans to win 2024,” he said. “What are they doing? I don’t know. They’ve got something in mind, you know, they’ve got something small in mind. Kemp is very bad for the Republican Party.”

“The election in Georgia is secure,” Raffensperger wrote in a message Saturday. “The winner here in November will reflect the will of the people. History has shown us that this kind of messaging does not sell well here in Georgia, sir.”

Kemp encouraged Trump to focus on the future instead of the past.

“My focus is on winning this November and saving our country from Kamala Harris and the Democrats — not on swinging petty personal insults, attacking fellow Republicans or dwelling on the past,” Kemp said. “You should do the same, Mr. President, and leave my family out of this.”