It’s not unheard of for Donald Trump to spend a good deal of time and energy criticizing members of his own party if they oppose some of his actions. But what is less common is the former president returning to good terms with one of his self-proclaimed enemies.
For the past few years, the GOP nominee has been fueling the fires of a feud with Republican Gov. Brian Kemp of Georgia who, like others in the party, did not back Trump’s calls to challenge the 2020 election results in the Peach State. This lack of support led the former president to brand the governor as “disloyal.”
But on August 22, Trump took to Truth Social to express gratitude to Kemp for “all of [his] help” in supporting the GOP candidate in the swing state of Georgia. In his post, Trump emphasized the need to “win” in that state for the “success” of both the Republican party and the country.
Furthermore, the presidential nominee added that he is “look[ing] forward” to collaborating with Kemp and his team as they join forces to “make America great again.” The remarks are an ironic contrast to the sharp insults made by Trump since 2020, when he sought to challenge the election results in the state despite President Joe Biden defeating him by almost 12,000 votes.
They were followed up with comments from Kemp, who said in a recent interview that the GOP has “got to win” in November, noting that the country “cannot afford” to be under Biden or Harris’ leadership for “another four years.” The governor added that Trump needed to win along with the GOP needing to “retake the Senate” and “hold the House.”
Previously, Kemp had refrained from endorsing Trump but instead said that he would support whoever ended up on the Republican ticket this year.
The feud between the two was still heated even as recently as the beginning of August, when Trump said during a rally in Atlanta that Kemp is “a bad” and “disloyal guy.” He simultaneously criticized Brad Raffensperger, Georgia’s Secretary of State, who sided with Kemp regarding Trump’s efforts to overturn his loss to Biden in the state.
The relationship between the two worsened when Kemp testified, following a subpoena, before a grand jury in Fulton County about the former president’s efforts to upend the Georgia election results in 2020. The same investigation eventually prompted criminal charges to be brought against Trump and 18 Republicans involved in the alleged scheme.