Former President Donald Trump and Gov. Brian Kemp (R-GA) ended a yearslong feud Friday, reuniting to help Georgians devastated by Hurricane Helene
Friday’s joint appearance in Evans, Georgia, marked the first time since the 2020 election that the two men were seen together. Kemp and Trump originally fell out after the governor resisted pressure to overturn the state’s election results that gave President Joe Biden a win.
In retaliation, Trump attempted to push out Kemp during his 2022 reelection by backing a primary challenger, former GOP Sen. David Perdue, but the effort proved unsuccessful.
On Friday, no hard feelings were on display as the two men shook hands and participated in a briefing on the hurricane. Later, during a brief press conference, Kemp and Trump had cordial comments for each other.
“I want to thank President Trump for coming back to our state again for the second time to view storm damage and keep a national focus on our state as we recover,” said Kemp as he stood in front of multiple packages of water, diapers, toilet paper, and paper towels. “I hope you’ll welcome the 45th president of the United States, Donald Trump.”
“Well, Brian, thank you very much. Your governor is doing a fantastic job, I will tell you that,” Trump responded. “And we’re all with him and with everybody.”
As recently as August, Trump was bashing Kemp as a “disloyal” governor and a “bad guy” and even took shots at Kemp’s wife, Marty, who had declined to endorse Trump. The governor fired back, telling Trump to “leave my family out of it” and stop engaging in “petty personal insults.”
Soon after, the men made peace in an effort to block Vice President Kamala Harris from winning the battleground state in November. Kemp backed Trump on Fox News, telling host Sean Hannity, “We need to send Donald Trump back to the White House.”
The appearance in Georgia was not billed as a campaign stop, and indeed Trump eschewed his usual 90-minute stump speech and opted for a six-minute introduction before taking a few questions from the press.
The former president reiterated his support for Kemp when a reporter asked for clarification on their relationship. “It’s great. It’s great. We work together. We’ve always worked together very well,” Trump responded.
Although Trump did wade into some political commentary on the Biden administration, he repeatedly stated his focus was on the hurricane recovery efforts.
When asked about Georgia and North Carolina, two crucial battleground states, Trump responded, “I’m not thinking about voters right now, I’m thinking about lives.”
“And to be honest, it’s much bigger than anything else. But we’re thinking about lives, a lot of lives lost, a lot of people missing,” he continued.
Even after being questioned about Biden’s statement that there would be a free and fair election, Trump still pointed to the people currently devastated by the storm.
“I don’t know anything about what he said. I only can hope that it’s going to be free and fair, and I think in this state it will be, and I hope in every state it will be,” He first answered. “And I think we’re going to do very well. But right now, we’re focused on this. We’re not focused on the election.”
This was a more disciplined appearance from Trump, who has struggled to stay on message while campaigning against Harris, who toured Augusta, Georgia, on Wednesday and announced federal relief for the Peach State.
Trump was in Valdosta, Georgia, on Monday where he waded into the political ramifications of the hurricane. The former president slammed the Biden administration’s response to Helene, falsely stating Biden had not communicated with the Georgia governor, which prompted pushback from both Kemp and Biden.
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Biden later visited Georgia on Thursday after the White House had explained that trips to affected areas were scheduled later to avoid imposing burdensome procedures due to Secret Service protection.
Georgia and North Carolina are key states that if Trump wins in November, along with Pennsylvania, would catapult him to 270 electoral votes and thus a second administration.