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It was a vintage Donald Trump rally on Saturday at the Georgia State Convocation Center with a crowd that far surpassed last Tuesday’s attendance at the same venue featuring Democrat presidential nominee Kamala Harris. It opened with the signature song “God Bless the USA,” featured Trump’s standard speech outlining key policy issues and included remarks from Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, GOP congressional candidate Brian Jack and an impassioned African-American activist named Michaelah Montgomery.  

But there was a surprise. 

The former Republican president unexpectedly veered away from attacking Harris and took some tough potshots at Georgia’s GOP Gov. Brian Kemp. 

That raises two questions: 1) Why was this year’s “truce” between them broken so suddenly? and 2) what will be its impact in the days to come before the November 5th presidential election? 

There has been bad blood between Trump and Kemp since the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election when the former president angrily said the governor refused to help him question the result and then declined to call a special General Assembly session before the 2021 runoff vote to institute election reforms. Yet since then, the two men basically maintained a stony silence toward one another. (Kemp did say earlier this year that he would support whoever the Republicans nominated for president at its convention.)  

Some prominent Georgia Republicans contacted by James Magazine Online (who wish to remain anonymous) said the latest flare-up seems to have occurred after the five-member State Election Board recently attained a 3-2 conservative voting majority that is pushing election reform rules– but have been blocked by procedural maneuvers from the Kemp-appointed chairman and the lone Democrat. 

At Saturday’s rally, Trump went out of his way to praise and single out the three Election Board members who were then cheered by the crowd. 

The three panelists, encouraged by Trump, are championing new rules they say will ensure that election results are verifiable and achieved through a transparent process with trustworthy ballots. Among other proposals, bipartisan activists are urging the Board to adopt a temporary rule requiring emergency balloting using hand-marked ballots counted by scanners, accompanied by robust audits. The Coalition for Good Governance submitted such a proposed temporary rule requesting that it be addressed at an upcoming meeting (after the Board has repeatedly delayed considering similar proposals for 15 months). This delay was angering the Trump camp, which especially doesn’t trust its nemesis Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger with overseeing elections. 

What will be the impact of Trump’s jabs at Kemp, and the governor’s response to leave he and his wife alone? Naturally, many Republicans– chief among them state GOP Chairman Josh McKoon– are hoping a truce can soon be restored between the two men so voters are not turned off.  The message to the party faithful, as well as to the electorate at large, is summed up by one GOP county chair: “All families have disputes, and so it is with Georgia’s Republican family. But those disputes must not take away from being united against the common threat— Harris and her far-left policies.” 

There are also rumblings that prominent Republicans at the state and national level who enjoy cordial relations with both the former president and the governor are already urging them to “smoke the peace pipe” and unite in calling for a massive vote to elect the entire Republican candidate slate.