In Georgia, Republicans’ Faustian bargain with Trump is catching up with them

"All of this reflects the GOP’s devolution into a cult of personality devoted to former president Donald Trump — a nationwide phenomenon that could affect key races elsewhere as well."

December 8, 2021

Anyone who thinks the Republican Party is some kind of well-oiled juggernaut ready to steamroll Democrats in November might want to check out what’s happening in Georgia, where the GOP is busy trying to steamroll itself, writes Eugene Robinson of the Washington Post.

Gov. Brian Kemp (R), who is seeking reelection, got bad news last week when he learned that his likely Democratic opponent will be Stacey Abrams, who came within a hair of beating him in 2018. He got worse news on Monday, when former senator David Perdue — defeated in his reelection bid in January — announced he will challenge Kemp in the GOP gubernatorial primary.

In what for decades has been a reliably red state, the Republican Party has lost both U.S. Senate seats to Democrats and stands a real chance of losing the governor’s mansion as well. And all of this reflects the GOP’s devolution into a cult of personality devoted to former president Donald Trump — a nationwide phenomenon that could affect key races elsewhere as well.