/https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/imageserve/5fdbf8f0161ee917dc85ea9c/0x0.jpg?cropX1=0&cropX2=2781&cropY1=0&cropY2=1563 "Georgia Governor Kemp says his household is being harassed by conspiracy theorists")
Top line
Georgia Governor Brian Kemp (R) said Thursday that his family is now being harassed by conspiracy theorists on social media as part of the “ridiculous” backlash that Kemp faced after the presidential election after refusing to participate Supporting outlandish claims made by President Donald Trump Widespread electoral fraud resulted in him losing the state to President-elect Joe Biden.
Georgia Governor Brian Kemp (R) removes his face covering before speaking to reporters during a Covid-19 … [+]
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Key factors
Kemp did not blame Trump directly for the vitriol when speaking to reporters during a Covid vaccination event Thursday afternoon, although Trump encouraged a major Republican challenge for Kemp in case he should run for re-election and recently retweeted a call to put Kemp in jail to throw.
Kemp said conspiracy theorists specifically targeted his daughter Lucy, whose friend Harrison Deal was killed in a car accident earlier this month after his vehicle collided with a truck on Interstate 16.
The 20-year-old deal also worked as a campaign clerk for U.S. Senator Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.), A fact that conspiracy theorists have picked up to promote unsubstantiated claims related to his death.
Kemp said “death threats” had also emerged since the election, a fact confirmed by other top state officials.
Crucial quote
“In the Kemp House, we have the rule that there is no crying in politics. But that’s something that if I said it would take me to the woodshed and never see the light of day, ”said Kemp.
What to look for
On the potential for a primary challenge in 2022, Kemp said he was “ready for any type of fight”. Trump has said he is now ashamed to endorse Kemp as governor in 2018.
Key background
Kemp has been under attack by Trump and his supporters since the presidential election, in which Trump was the first Republican candidate to lose the state of Georgia since 1992. Trump has claimed that Kemp and other top Republicans in the state had it in their power to overturn the election result despite losing Georgia to Biden by around 12,000 votes. But Kemp has fought against Trump’s unsubstantiated conspiracy claims, which also failed to stand up in court. Two reports of the state’s election results, one of which was requested by the Trump campaign, also confirmed Biden’s victory. On Monday, all votes from the state electoral college officially went to Biden.
Surprising fact
Despite all the hostility, Kemp said on Thursday, “As far as I know, my relationship with the president is fine.”
further reading
An outraged Kemp beats up pro-Trump conspiracy theorists who molested his family (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
Trump Encourages Primary Challenge Against Georgia’s Pro-Trump Governor (Forbes)
Georgia Official Trump Accepts Results, Warns “Someone Will Be Killed” If Not (Forbes)
Trump calls on Georgia governor to pressure him to undo Biden’s victory in state (The Washington Post)
Two Georgia judges close GOP attempts to introduce new voting restrictions ahead of Senate runoff elections (Forbes)
Georgia reaffirms Biden’s win after Trump-Ordered Recount fails again (Forbes)
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/gray/XW6I7JEEWFCZVKTWSTMIDZTEDE.png "According to the lawsuit, baby was decapitated during delivery at a Georgia hospital")
/https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/imageserve/5fdbf8f0161ee917dc85ea9c/0x0.jpg?cropX1=0&cropX2=2781&cropY1=0&cropY2=1563&description=Georgia+Governor+Kemp+says+his+household+is+being+harassed+by+conspiracy+theorists){kind=link}