Not that I really want to care about the governorship of Georgia, but I’ve kind of enjoyed how the state has been over the last few years, and I’d like to see it continue on a similar path. I dig how Nathan Deal has been this left-leaning Republican that always sides with money, even if it means going against the things that the right loves to gobble up like institutional racism and homophobic discrimination in the name of religion. It’s always been somewhat of a societal safety net knowing that no matter what bullshit bills or laws rise to be on the cusp of sending the state of Georgia back a few decades, Nathan Deal has pretty much always gone against it, if there was any modicum of chance that it would negatively impact the state’s financial fortunes in any way, shape or form.
Unfortunately, all things do come to an end, and because of term limits, Nathan Deal is on his way out. Vying for his seat is Democrat Stacey Abrams, but I’m kind of already discounting her chances, because she’s a black woman, and despite the fact that I’d prefer her win over her opponents, I don’t think there’s a snowball’s chance in hell that’s she’s going to win over enough votes in the racist redneck parts of Georgia whose votes unfortunately still count the same as they do in Atlanta.
Abrams winning would definitely be a massive victory in so many ways, but I unfortunately don’t think she has much of a chance. Georgia represented hard as it ever has in 2016, but the state still tilted red, and regardless of how much the culture of the country may have shifted since then, there’s still an inexplicable amount of people who will vote for the Republican for the sake of political affiliation, and then there are the racists who won’t vote Abrams because she’s black, and then there are the sexists who won’t vote Abrams because she’s a woman. Or all of the above.
That being said, I’ve been way more interested than I ever thought I would be in the race for the Republican primary, because the way I predict it, whomever comes out the Republican race is pretty much already the new Governor, and it’s basically a lesser of two evils scenario that I feel Georgians should really be concerned about.
I’ve posted more times about this than I thought I ever would have, but on one side we have Casey Cagle, who’s basically like a snake, who is under the Republican ticket, but is abundantly clear to be a lot like Nathan Deal, and is most likely to chase the money and operate the state in the most financially fluid manner as possible, even if it goes against stereotypical Republican beliefs. And then there’s Yosemite Sam, Brian Kemp, who’s a Republican extremist who has tripled down on boasting how much of a racist, Trump-worshipping, fully armed redneck he is. And because America is as fucked up as it’s ever been, he has naturally made it this far to being right outside the steps to becoming Georgia’s next governor.
Needless to say, Casey Cagle is no saint by any stretch of the imagination, but he’s the very easy preferable choice for the next governor of Georgia. Hell, probably over Stacey Abrams too, since who knows if she’ll go so far overboard with being the anti-Republican that she sends the state into the dark ages too. But really it boils down to anyone but Kemp, who will undoubtedly send Georgia back into the 1950s.
I actually felt some relief when I read news about how Nathan Deal had personally and officially endorsed Cagle. There’s been a lot of dirty politicking (oxymoron?) between Cagle and Kemp, mostly revolving around hidden recordings of Cagle saying some pretty typical entitled white guy things about raising money and playing a little dirty that has hurt his reputation a bit, leading to the polls to show that the two of them were basically neck-and-neck going into the runoff. But an endorsement from Nathan Deal would have been a very beneficial rub, seeing as how most Georgians have been relatively pleased with the way that Deal has run the state in his tenure, and his endorsement just might inspire some confidence that Cagle might be able to do the same.
And then I saw news about how Donald Trump has given his endorsement to Yosemite Sam, and now I’ve pretty much decided that Georgia’s fucked.
Say what you will about Trump, but the guy has demonstrated to basically being bulletproof. Sexist remarks? Constant and frequent disparaging remarks about Mexicans and other immigrants? Grabbing pussies? Still wins the presidency. Antagonizing basically every single country he comes across? Siding with Vladimir Putin over his own country’s intelligence bureaus? His supporters still worship the ground he walks on.
Trump endorsing Kemp is basically a warp zone to the governor’s mansion. I most certainly hope that Georgia proves me wrong, but I frankly have no reason to believe that this isn’t what’s going to happen now. Thousands of brainless Trump worshippers are now going to vote for Kemp for absolutely no other reason than the endorsement alone, and he’s going to beat Cagle, and not that he’ll need the extra Republican votes after Cagle is bounced when he goes up against Abrams, but he’ll ransack her like the Charlotte Hornets crushed the Memphis Grizzlies.
And then Ofdonald will be governor of Georgia, and because he’s an idiot, he’ll sign through all sorts of mega right-wing bills and laws that will transport the state back into the aforementioned 1950s, and then all of the major corporations and the Georgia film industry will pack their shit up and get the fuck out of this backwater state, and then the we, that lives here, will all be fucked.
